The next two years on the cricket pitch are going to be amazing. After the 2019 ICC World Cup, the 2020 Asia Cup will take centre stage.
A Primer on Cricket and Betting on Cricket
It won’t be long now before the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup gets underway in England and Wales. Billions of people will be watching this incredible event – but the cricket doesn’t end there. The 2020 Asia Cup is the next major stop on the cricket calendar; we’ll get you ready by looking at the history behind this tournament, and how it relates to the ICC Cricket World Cup betting odds available right now at Bodog Sportsbook.
History of the Asia Cricket Cup
Cricket itself can be traced back to at least the mid-1500s, and the fields of southwest England. While we may never know for certain where and when this great game began, the first organized match on record was played around 1611. Cricket would gain wider acceptance during the Restoration period, beginning in 1660 – thanks in large part to the renewed opportunities for gambling after Charles II took the throne. From there, English colonists spread the game of cricket to the West Indies, the Indian subcontinent and beyond, starting as early as 1676.
The first cricket matches were known as village cricket, featuring teams from rival parishes and villages in England and Wales. Later on, cricket would be adopted by the ruling class; these players would refer to themselves as amateurs, while working-class players made up most of the professional ranks. This class distinction between amateur and professional would last until 1962.
In the meantime, the rise of the British Empire led to the first international cricket matches, starting in 1844 when the Canadian cricket team toured the United States – Canada won that match by 23 runs, and at least US$100,000 (about $3.3 million in today’s money) was reportedly wagered. England’s first overseas tour was in North America in 1859, then they visited Australia in 1876-77 for what has retroactively been named the first Test match, which Australia won by 45 runs.
Test cricket represents the highest level of the sport, but these matches can take a long time to finish – up to five days in the modern version. Limited overs cricket (aka one-day cricket) was introduced in 1963, making multi-team tournaments possible; this led to the establishment of the first Cricket World Cup in 1975, and the first Asia Cup in 1984.
Biggest International Cricket Competitions
Stemming from the early tours, the first ongoing international cricket series would start between England and Australia in 1882, and soon became known as The Ashes. But when it comes to the One Day International (ODI) tournaments, the Cricket World Cup is the gold standard. Staged every four years by the International Cricket Council (established in 1909), this tournament features the world’s top established Test nations, plus any other teams who qualify.
In addition to the International Cricket Council (ICC), there are five regional governing bodies for cricket, each overseeing its own international tournaments. They include the African Cricket Association (ACA), the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), and the European Cricket Council (ECC), as well as ICC Americas and ICC East Asia-Pacific. The ACC is the most important of these, given their region includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan – five of the top 10 clubs on the ICC men’s ODI rankings at press time.
That doesn’t mean great cricket isn’t being played elsewhere. The European Cricket Championship series, Americas Championship, World Cricket League Africa, and EAP Cricket Trophy are all very important tournaments, with qualifying spots in the Cricket World Cup on the line. But none of these events has more of an effect on the ICC betting odds than the Asia Cup. India are the reigning champions, and the second favorites at +225 to win this year’s World Cup.
Cricket Asia Cup Betting
The biennial Asia Cup has been through some changes since its 1984 debut. The ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan has led to multiple disruptions; India boycotted the 1986 Asia Cup, then Pakistan followed suit in 1990-91, and the 1993 tournament was cancelled altogether. Then, after the ACC (established in 1983) was downsized in 2015 and their headquarters moved from Malaysia to Sri Lanka, the Asia Cup began alternating between the ODI format and an even shorter game called Twenty20 International cricket (T20I), where each team plays 20 overs.
The 2016 Asia Cup was the first that used the T20I format, with India prevailing over the hosts from Bangladesh to win their sixth title. That tournament acted as a lead-in to the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, the T20I cousin to the Cricket World Cup. The 2018 Asia Cup, again won by India over Bangladesh, was a precursor to this year’s World Cup.
That means the 2020 Asia Cup will be played under T20I rules. For the most part, the same cricketers will play Test, ODI and T20I matches for their national sides, and the quality of play is roughly the same – although the world rankings can vary greatly depending on recent results. England are currently the top-ranked ODI team on the planet, and the favorites on the ICC Cricket World Cup odds board at +225. However, England are only fourth on the T20I rankings, and fifth for Test cricket.
The current kings of T20I cricket are Pakistan, although the Men in Green are coming off a difficult tour of South Africa, where they lost two of three matches – and also came up short in the Test and ODI formats. Home-pitch advantage is a very important factor in cricket, and will no doubt play a major role when the first Asia Cup odds hit the board at Bodog Sportsbook. If you want to get a jump on the competition for both the 2019 Cricket World Cup and the 2020 Asia Cup, tune into live cricket streaming (always from a reputable source) and get to know these teams, if you aren’t already following this incredible sport. And make sure to keep checking in with Bodog for the latest ICC odds and analysis.
