What to look for before you bet
08 Cricket 
/ Betfair Education / 28 April 2008 / Leave a comment
The pitch and weather are key factors in a cricket match. Produce a dry, lifeless pitch in hot weather and bowlers are going to have a hard time taking wickets. Cloudy spells and showers mean the bowlers will be able to move the ball in the air, making the batsmen's task that much harder.
Look at the weather forecast and take note of previous matches at this venue. Are matches often high-scoring at this ground? What type of bowlers take wickets here - seamers, express pacemen, spinners? Does any particular player have a great or poor record here?
Are both teams at full strength? Key players can make a huge difference to a side - Glenn McGrath missed two Tests of the 2005 Ashes series, England won both of them and won the series. An English team without Kevin Pietersen loses most of its 'fear factor' for opposing bowlers.
Are the teams match-fit or tired from a busy touring schedule? After a string of international tours followed by one match on home soil, the star players may be tired or still expecting a completely different type of pitch. Professional athletes do need rest and time to adjust to different venues.
What are they playing for today? Is this the big event of the summer or do these players have their eyes on something bigger around the corner? A tournament like the Champions Trophy for example will always return disappointing results for a team like England if one month later they will be facing Australia for the Ashes, the pinnacle of cricket for those nations. Players aren't robots, motivation can be a factor and team selections may also be an indicator of how team management are approaching this game.
Note that this series of articles has been written specifically for Test cricket, but can be adapted for limited-overs matches.
Research
As you'd imagine, cricket is a sport with an infinite amount of statistical information. Wisden started it all way back when, now Cricinfo is the number one source for data.
CricInfo - the definitive international cricket database with daily information including news, live scorecards and commentary.
HowStat - another very thorough database site.
Indian Premier League - official website
Cricket365
BBC Cricket
Guardian Sport
ESPNStar Cricket
- all sports websites with a range of news, interviews and live information
