CWC NewZealand150The ICC Cricket World Cup gets underway on Thursday 30th May when host nation England take on South Africa and ahead of the opening game we take a look at the latest odds in selected outright betting markets.

 

 

 

The Format:

We have 10 nations competing and for the 2019 CWC we have no group stage. Every team will face each other over the course of 45 matches from 30th May to 6th July. Top of the log will take on the fourth placed finisher in the first semi final in Manchester on 9th July, second will meet third in the other semi final in Birmingham on 11th July and the final takes place at Lords on Sunday 14th July.

The venues to be used are Kennington Oval, London, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, County Ground, Bristol, The Rose Bowl, Southampton, County Ground, Taunton, Old Trafford, Manchester, Edgbaston, Birmingham, Headingley, Leeds, Lord's, London and the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street.

 

 

Recent Cricket World Cup Finals

2015 Winner Australia, Runner Up New Zealand (hosted in Australia, New Zealand)

2011 Winner India, Runner Up Sri Lanka (hosted in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka)

2007 Winner Australia, Runner Up Sri Lanka (hosted in West Indies)

2003 Winner Australia, Runner Up India (hosted in Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe)

1999 Winner Australia, Runner Up Pakistan (hosted in UK, Ireland, Netherlands)

 

Outright Winner Betting

CWCOR26May

Note odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

To Reach the Final Betting

CWCFinal26May

Note odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

To Reach the Semi Finals Betting

CWCSemis26May

Note odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

Current ICC Rankings for ODI’s

1 England 125

2 India 121

3 South Africa 115

4 New Zealand 113

5 Australia 109

6 Pakistan 94

7 Bangladesh 90

8 West Indies 77

9 Sri Lanka 76

10 Afghanistan 63

 

The Contenders:

Host nation and No 1 ranked England deserve the favourites tag with an ultra powerful batting line being their strength. However they did fluff their lines when favourites for the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 where they also had home ground advantage, progressing through the group stage with 3 wins from 3 but tripping up in the semi’s against Pakistan.

India will be a popular choice with punters. They were runners up in the aforementioned Champions Trophy 2 years ago but they look plenty short enough in the betting with conditions not expected to suit the spinners.

Australia’s record in CWC reads 4 wins from the last 5 editions and they have Steve Smith and David Warner back in the fold after their respective bans. Up until recently they were in poor form in this format but they have turned things around in this calendar year.

South Africa come into the tournament without the usual weight of expectation they have been burdened with for previous CWC campaigns. Bowlers Rabada and Ngidi have missed some cricket through injury lately but if they ready to do themselves justice they should be a handful . The top order needs to fire with a couple of question marks about the ability to make runs lower down.

New Zealand are an interesting runner with what looks like a well balanced side led by the excellent Kane Williamson. They face Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in their first 3 matches and if those games go to form they will have the momentum in their tournament for supposedly tougher tasks to follow.

Pakistan have been out of nick in this format but although their Champions Trophy win came as a surprise they have plenty of talent if they can put it together. I feel they might be a bit short in the bowling unit which could cost them when they run into good batting decks.

West Indies could be anything with Chris Gayle making his swansong alongside some talented youngsters. They will be aggressive when batting for sure but I would say they will need to find a star performer or two with the ball if they are to go deep.

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan all look up against it on form but are still capable of springing a surprise along the way should any of the more fancied sides take them lightly.

 

Outright bets:

3.5 units, To Reach the Semi Finals, New Zealand 12/10

1 unit New Zealand to win the tournament at 10/1

(Unit scale 1 to 5)

 

More outright previews will follow.

Click here for all the outright CWC markets.

Claim your 1st deposit bonus of up to R10,000 here

 

forumRemember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum