2019 Cricket season betting preview with World Cup, Ashes and more ahead

Cricket fans might have the biggest and best summer ahead of them that they can remember, especially those in England. Not only are the English hosting a World Cup, but they are facing the Australians in a home Ashes series immediately after.

Throw the usual ingredients of Indian Premier League (IPL), the English domestic season and one or two other bits of international action and we have a packed season of the highest quality action. With plenty of value to be had in the betting markets with cricket’s betting offers, it is going to be a thoroughly exciting summer.

England v Ireland

England get their summer of cricket underway with a solitary ODI against Ireland and, although it will be well worth a watch, it will not be worth having a bet on with England at just 1/12 to win it. Ireland have, very memorably, beaten the English in the past, but with Eoin Morgan’s men favourites to win the World Cup they will not be taking this lightly and should see off their neighbours, but there is not a fat lot of value in backing them.

Indian Premier League

This year’s IPL is rattling along, swiftly approaching the play-offs in May, and we are seeing a recognisable pattern at the top of the table. The Chennai Super Kings have a sensational record in the tournament since its inception in 2008. Other than their two-year suspension, CSK have never failed to reach the semi-finals of this competition. Three times they have won it, including last season when they returned from their exile.

It has been their bowling attack that has been the highlight of their season so far, with Harbhajan Singh still going strong, while Deepak Chahar has emerged as a key cog in the machine. They are just 1/4 to make the semis, which is not worth investing in, but they are definitely worth backing to win the event at 2/1. MS Dhoni knows what to do to win this tournament, and he has a superb chance of doing so again.

England v Pakistan ODI series

England and Pakistan will prepare the World Cup by duking it out over five One Day Internationals in quick succession from 8-19 May. The rapid series is played across the Oval, Rose Bowl, County Ground in Bristol, Trent Bridge and Headingley.
Pakistan are always a threat, but they have a pretty shoddy record against England in the 50-over format in recent years, or in the distant past. They have not beaten the English since in their last five ODI series and they are not facing an England team which is much more impressive than their predecessors.

Eoin Morgan will be taking these games extremely seriously as he looks to nail down the best team for the World Cup and England will be looking to flex their muscles ahead of a tournament for which they are favourites.
It is not the best value, but back the home side to win the series at 4/9.

30 May – 14 July – World Cup

The absolute epic World Cup is going to be the focal point of the sporting summer as the new format sees every team take on each other across the mammoth group stage. There is just one huge group, which four teams will emerge from at the end of, heading into the semi-finals in July.
As always, the same few teams are in contention to lift the trophy, although the Cricket Betting Odds are not quite in the same order as usual. The Australians are not too fancied, neither are the South Africans, but England are the clear favourites on home soil to win the tournament for the first time.

1 Aug – 12 Sep – The Ashes

With the World Cup taking up so much of the cricketing summer, it is easy to forget that we have an Ashes series rolling around in August. If either or both sides reach the World Cup final they will have a couple of weeks to take a rest, recharge the batteries and get into test mode for the biggest contest in the longest format of the sport.

It will be one of the spiciest Ashes series in recent memory if the Aussies throw Steve Smith and David Warner back into the fray after their suspension for ball tampering. It is yet to be seen if Warner will be given the nod again, but Smith almost certainly will and he will be receiving a monstrous amount of stick from the English crowd.

Due to the ball tampering scandal and with something of a death in talent, especially in the batting line-up, the Aussies are not looking especially impressive at the moment. England are not quite as good as they have been over the last 10 years, but they have the edge over the Australians in a number of departments, especially on home soil.

2019 County Championship

Surrey were crowned County champions last year and are favourites to win the title again this season, but it is notoriously difficult to retain the Division One title, so it is worthwhile having a look elsewhere. The Oval-based side are still very strong, but over the last nine seasons, only Yorkshire have won back-to-back titles, with eight different winners over that time. Worth backing in 2019 is a team that has not won it once this decade, and in fact has never won the County Championship in history. Just three counties have never lifted the biggest prize in domestic cricket, but Somerset could break their duck this time round (leaving Gloucestershire and Northants without titles).

The Taunton team came second last year and only lost two of their 14 matches, looking solid throughout. They have made a very canny signing in the form of Jack Brooks from Yorkshire, who is guaranteed to get a hatful of wickets over the season.
Surrey will be tough to topple, but they will be much more badly affected by the busy international schedule this summer than Somerset. Surrey will be missing Rory Burns, Ben Foakes, Liam Plunkett and the Currans to England duty at some stage while Somerset will largely be unscathed. This will give them the edge in the race.

Somerset are also the only side to open the season with two wins from two, seeing off Kent and thrashing Nottinghamshire at the start of the campaign.

2019 Royal London One Day Cup

There is a very decent bit of value in the 50-over game with Nottinghamshire looking like a standout team to keep an eye on this season. The Outlaws have made a scintillating start to the One Day Cup campaign and appear to have done some fantastic business over the winter.

Bringing in Ben Duckett from Northants and Joe Clarke from Worcs were the most notable signings, but Ben Slater from Derbyshire also seems to have been a very shrewd move. Slater has a fantastic record in the 50-over game, although he hasn’t quite earned the plaudits for his achievements.

Notts came second in the North Group last year before crumbling in the play-offs but they look brilliantly set to go further this time around.