The Odds

One Day Internationals

One Day International Cricket (ODI) is a game limited to 50 overs per side played between two international teams. The Cricket World Cup is the highest ranked competition in this form of cricket and it rated second only to Test Match cricket. These matches are also referred to as “limited over cricket” because the weather often intervenes and forces the game into a second day. The most important one-day matches, both international and domestic, often have a second day set aside, just to allow for adverse weather conditions.

The first international one-day game was played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 5th January 1971. When the first three days of the third Test match were washed out by rain, officials decided to abandon the match and play a one-off one day game consisting of 40 eight-ball overs per side. Australia won the game by 5 wickets.

In the late 1970′s, Kerry Packer established the rival World Series Cricket (WSC) competition. He introduced many of the features of One Day International cricket that are now commonplace, including coloured uniforms and matches played at night under floodlights with a white ball and dark sight screens. The first match staged with coloured uniforms was held between the WSC Australians in gold and WSC West Indians in pink, played at VFL Park in Melbourne on 17th January 1979.

The nature of the game meant that some of the rules needed to be adapted for this form of the cricket. Each bowler is restricted to 10 overs (for the 50 over game) which is reduced equally should the match be affected by rain. If the scores are level at the end of the match the game is declared a tie, regardless of how many wickets each side lost in achieving their total.

If the weather disrupts play significantly, then the number of overs may be reduced. Where the number of overs available for the team batting second is different from the number of overs faced by the team that batted first, the result may be determined by the Duckworth-Lewis method. There are also rules controlling the use of the fielders. These were initially brought in to avoid fielding sides lining the boundary when the batting side needs four or more.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) determines which teams have ODI status. The ten Test Match playing nations have permanent ODI status. They are: Australia, England, New Zealand, West Indies, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and South Africa. The ICC temporarily also grants ODI status to Associate members Kenya, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland and Afghanistan.

In addition, the ICC reserves the right to grant special ODI status to all matches within certain high profile tournaments, with the result being that the following countries have also participated in full ODI’s: East Africa, UAE, Namibia, Hong Kong, USA and Bermuda.

One Day International Betting

One Day International Cricket is one of the most popular form of cricket betting. You can bet on the head to head and on the series or tournament outright. You can also bet on a wide range of specials including highest scoring batsman, bowler to take the most wickets and overall winning margin.

For the more adventurous, there are often markets on most sixes, number of run outs and next man out, as well as a host of betting and bowling specials. The rapidly changing nature of the game lends itself perfectly to live or in-running betting.

One Day International Odds

There is a massive range of advertised odds for the One Day Internationals from the simple outright winner to the man of the match award. The game is becoming increasingly popular world-wide because of the many twists and turns in the course of the game.

There will be odds available on the highest scoring batsman for each side, the most successful bowler in terms of wickets taken and even match betting between players from each side. For events such as the Cricket World Cup, there will also be a lively market on the outright tournament winner.