Breaking down four Myths about cricket: which factors Don’t influence cricket matches

Those of you who love to bet on cricket matches have certainly come across a number of factors that are claimed to have a strong impact on the match outcome and that influence how games play out and how teams perform. Well, while for some factors there is statistically significant evidence, for the most part, the bunch of factors that you will see here and there are not really important. 

Breaking down four Myths about cricket

It is, of course, reasonable to try and find out what things can affect a cricket match when you want to make an informed bet on any of the cricket betting sites in Germany, but you should be on the right track and invest your time in dealing with the right factors. You don’t want to waste your time thinking about aspects, which in the end, have little to do with the match result. 

Here are the four factors which you think have a role to play, but they actually don’t, based on statistical evidence. They are factors that are frequently seen on the top list of bettors’ considerations for cricket betting, but relevant studies have shown that they are not associated with the match outcome!

The game plan

Many people believe that the game plan is a factor that can influence how a match plays out. We can’t say that the way that the game is arranged in terms of batting or fielding first, has nothing to do with how the team is going to perform, but there has been no statistical significance in the results of studies focusing on the effect of the plan on the final outcome of a game. 

Any initial effect is phased out during the course of the game. So, no matter how much you want to value the batting sequence in your betting decision, there is little that you can do with that.

The pre-match toss

There is a deep-held belief that whoever wins the toss has an advantage because they get to choose whether they will bat or bowl first. And there are many bettors who rely on the winning of the toss to wager on a specific team to win the match. But this is not a reliable factor. 

There is no statistical evidence supporting that winning the toss gives a team greater chance of winning the match. It actually does not matter much if the team gets to decide how to begin and any kind of effect vanishes out as the game progresses. 

The match time 

The Day / Day-Night match is probably one factor that all cricket fans have considered when evaluating the different things that can affect a match. A day match is supposedly easier than a day-night match (floodlit cricket) and it seems that some teams have trouble playing well in day-night games.

But, looking at stats and past records, there is no implication or statistically significant relationship between the match time and the match outcome. So, the next time you will think of the format as a factor influencing a cricket match, take some time to remember that it is not among the things that matter much. 

Home field advantage

The home-field advantage in this list may come as a surprise to you, but it is not a statistically proven factor influencing the outcome of a cricket match.

This can have two explanations: one is that today’s cricket players are much more exposed to international cricket events, they have participated in many tournaments and so they are more tolerant of the ‘away’ or ‘on-the-road’ effects. The risks and challenges that were once encountered by the away team are no longer considered to be significant for contemporary cricket players. 

The second explanation is that travel fatigue is a factor that tends to diminish over time, especially as transportation becomes more and more efficient and teams don’t get to spend so much time on the road. 

So, which factors matter then?

You should probably think that if the home-field advantage, the match time, the pre-match toss, and the game plan don’t really influence a cricket outcome, then which factors actually matter? 

There are other things to take into consideration when betting on cricket. These include the weather, the continent of the venue, the past records of teams, the type of pitch, or even the cricket style played by teams. It is these kinds of factors that you should focus more on if you want to be successful in cricket betting. 

Moonda Ale

Cricket Content Writer at Cricfacts.com.  A seasoned sports journalist who is working in the industry for more than two decades. He is now on facebook also.