Top Cricket Tournaments 2021 🥇 Your 5 Best Betting Sites

Cricket is one of the world’s biggest sports, with many top cricket tournaments, both domestic and international, taking place all the time during the yearly cricket calendar. It's no surprise, then, that cricket betting tags along in the wake of the sport's popularity. Take a look at our in-depth guide to betting on the top cricket tournaments right now!

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Top Cricket Tournaments – 5 Best Betting Sites

bet365
ComeOn!
NetBet
1BET
LeoVegas

Cricket Formats

In top cricket tournaments, three formats are played at international level: Test matches, One Day Internationals, and Twenty20 Internationals. Although they're played at different paces and with or without limited overs, all follow basic rules and codes as outlined by the ICC.

Test Match Cricket

The oldest (and, for some, the best) form of cricket, Test cricket is where it all started, dating back to 1877 when England played Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in a match that would later develop into the Ashes. Like today’s Ashes, Test matches are played over five days, and normally consist of four innings, two per team. Because of the challenge it provides, as well as its origins and traditional place in the game, Test cricket still ranks as the most prestigious of cricketing formats.

One Day International Cricket

Referred to as ODIs, One Day Internationals are cricket internationals that take place over one day. It's the longest of two limited overs cricket formats, capped at 50 overs and one innings per team. Dating back to 1971, ODIs are popular enough today for the ICC to stage the Champions Trophy for the top eight ranked ODI teams and their flagship event, the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Twenty20 Cricket

T20 cricket came about in 2005, making it the newest form of cricket. It's also the fastest and shortest format, limited to 20 overs apiece. No other form of cricket takes less than three hours to reach a conclusion. Many of the most exciting top cricket tournaments are based around the Twenty20 format, including the Indian Premier League, Australia’s Big Bash, and the T20 World Cup.

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Test Match Cricket Events

One Day International Cricket Events

History of Cricket

There is no definitive origin story for the game of cricket. What we do know is that the game dates back to the Weald in Kent and Sussex in the south east of England, around the time of the Saxons, prior to the Norman invasion. Back then, the game of Club Ball, using shepherd crook-shaped clubs for bats and gates for wickets, was first recorded. The word cricket is believed to be derived from the French word criquet, and was first applied to Club Ball around the time the French invaded the British Isles.

Fast forward to 1697 and the first known match featuring 11 players to a team took place in the English county of Sussex, with 50 guineas put up as the prize. The game would continue to grow over the following years, and, by 1709, Kent played Surrey in what was the first time counties took on each other, which is still how the English championship is played today. Increasingly, games took place in North London’s Lords Cricket ground, which is still considered to be the home of cricket.

As cricket grew in popularity, there was a growing need for the introduction of rules and laws. By 1744, the first official Laws of Cricket were published by the London Club, and in 1788, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which own Lords Cricket Ground, published a revised set of laws for the game to work with. The sport continued to evolve throughout the 18th century, and gradually came to resemble today’s game, as the bats straightened out and the wickets took their current form.

As Britain entered the Victorian era, and British imperialism began to peak, British sports began to gain traction in the colonies, and, in 1844, the USA and Canada contested the first international cricket match. Almost a quarter of a century later, an Australian aboriginal XI visited England for a tour. More than a decade after that, the first official Test match between England and Australia was held.

By 1890, England’s County Championship was established for the first time, using six-ball overs instead of the previously used five. As the game moved into the 20^th century, the Imperial Cricket Conference (today’s International Cricket Council) was created in order to govern the sport. At the time, only England, Australia, and South Africa were members.

India didn’t sign up to the ICC until 1926, the same year as the West Indies and New Zealand. Pakistan became a fully paid-up member in 1952, while Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh became members before the turn of the century. Today, 105 nations are members, some of whom enjoy Test match status. This means they also enjoy ODI and T20 status, and can also compete in other top cricket tournaments.

Top Cricket Grounds

Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

Located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, the MCG is perhaps Australia’s biggest and most prestigious cricket venue. Capable of holding as many as 100,000 people, the MCG is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the second-biggest cricket ground in the world, and the 11^thlargest sporting venue on earth.

Built in 1853, it was the venue that hosted the very first Test match, when Australia hosted England in 1877. Home to the National Sports Museum, as well as hosting numerous top cricket tournaments, the stadium was used in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. It's also played a starring role in two cricket World Cups (1992 and 2015), as well as the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Sardar Patel Stadium

Holding a bigger capacity than the MCG, the Sardar Patel Stadium is the new showpiece of Indian cricket. Before its renovation, it hosted three Cricket World Cups. For its grand reopening in 2020, it was used as the venue to host the visit of the then-US President Donald Trump. Prior to its reconstruction, this IPL mega-venue held 54,000 people, and today hosts top cricket tournaments, be they Test, ODI, or Twenty20 cricket matches.

Lords Cricket Ground

Sure, we all know Trent Bridge, Edgbaston, Old Trafford, and Headingley, but the true home of English cricket is Lords Cricket Ground. Named after its founder, Thomas Lords, this ground is noted, not for its size, but largely for its role in the history and development of the game, making this historical 30,000-capacity venue a very important centre for cricket. Today, the ground is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club, and is the home venue of Middlesex County Cricket Club.

On top of this, other senior authorities are based there. Up until 2005, this included the International Cricket Council, but today also includes the England and Wales Cricket Board, and the European Cricket Council. The ground, which is also home to the world's oldest sporting museum, has actually moved location from its original site, but has been in its current position near London’s Regents Park since 1814. To mark the stadium’s 200th anniversary, former India captain, Sachin Tendulkar, captained a team to take on a Rest of the World XI led by Shane Warne in a 50 overs match.

The Gabba

The Brisbane Cricket Ground, more commonly known as the Gabba, always makes up a major part of an Ashes tour, and is one of the most famous cricket grounds in the world, regularly hosting top cricket tournaments.

Located in the city’s Woolloongabba district, resident teams that play here include the Brisbane Heat of the Big Bash League, their female equivalents, and the Queensland Bulls. The stadium also doubles up to host the Brisbane Lions of the Australian Football League, as well as hosting athletics baseball, rugby league, rugby union, and football.

The Oval

What Lords is to London’s north, the Oval is to the south of the English capital. Providing a home to County Championship team Surrey since 1845, the 25,500-capacity stadium was the very first ground in England to host international Test cricket in September 1880, and today traditionally hosts the final Test match of each England-hosted Ashes series.

While football is no longer played here, the Oval hosted a number of first-time UK events, including England's first international football match against Scotland, and the first FA Cup final in 1872. The Oval was also the venue for a number of top cricket tournaments, such as the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final.

Top Cricket Tournaments Key Stats

The 110,000-capacity Sardar Patel, or Motera, Stadium in Ahmedabad is the largest cricket stadium in the world.
The shortest Test match on record took place in Melbourne, when Australia dismissed South Africa twice inside five hours and 53 minutes.
The game’s most successful bowler is Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan who took 1,347 in 800 Test matches, some 346 wickets ahead of Shane Warne.
The oldest person to ever play Test cricket was England all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes, who last played for his country at the age of 52.
Englishman Sir Jack Hobbs is the top run-scorer in the history of the sport, scoring more than 60,000 runs.
Hobbs also hit 199 centuries in his career, which ran from 1905 to 1934.
Australia is the most successful team in Test cricket, winning 332 of their 712 Test matches.
Australian Donald Bradman retired with an incredible batting average of 99.94, some 40 runs higher than the nearest batsman's average.
In 1956, English spin bowler Jim Laker set a Test match record when he took 19 Australian wickets for 90 runs.

Top Cricket Tournaments FAQs

What are the best betting sites for top cricket tournaments?

The top cricket tournament betting sites are bet365, ComeOn!, and NetBet.

Check out also which are the best betting sites offering virtual cricket!

What is a limited overs cricket match?

Limited overs cricket is when the game has a fixed amount of overs per game. One type of limited overs game is T20, where each team faces twenty overs.

Okay, and what's an over?

An over is every six balls bowled.

How many innings do each team have in a Test match?

In a test match, each team should bat twice, but sometimes a team can be so far behind that a second innings need not be required.

Can I bet on a player making a century?

Yes, that's actually a very popular wager.