Big Bash Cricket

The T20 series in Australia has been fantastic so far. The Aussies have really embraced the shorter format of the game and the international all-star lines ups are producing some games of incredible quality.

Fox Sports are doing a great job with the coverage which you can stream for free on Bet365. The commentators are providing as many laughs as the batsman are sixes. A particularly nice touch is the in play commentary from the players themselves, hearing a bowler talk about how he intends to take a wicket before he bowls really makes you feel close to the action.

The Big Bash tournament takes a league and cup format and we're near the end of the league stage.

From a trading perspective this is a very lucrative opportunity with very well matched teams needing to take points to secure a semi-final place creating massive swings. When trading T20, my strategy is based on one of three styles, lay the batting side, back the bowling side or a hybrid of the two. Because the games are so close there are often big swings in price. It's possible to see a side come in from 10's to 2's in few minutes or move out from 1.10. The swings will come from the key trigger points of wickets and boundaries. The amount of the swing will be determined by the run-rate, wickets lost and runs scored at the that point. Check the in-play stats at ESPN Cricket.

The good news is that you don't need to know anything about cricket to be able to make a profitable trade. The market will move when a wicket is taken or boundary hit or a six knocked out of the park. So lay or back accordingly.

Tomorrow's game is between  Sydney Thunder and Perth Scorchers respectively 2nd and 5th in the league. Perth are the form side with 4 straight wins whilst Sydney are coming of the back of 3 straight losses. Thunder  have been unlucky in losing to the Sixers in a rain affected match and taking top side Hobart close. They'll want to make the home advantage count and secure the points to take them into the play-off places. In Gayle they've got one of the biggest hitting batsman but Perth's top bowler Edmonson won't make it easy for him.

The opening odds have Perth (1.79) as favourite but I'm going for the home side (2.24). I think it'll be a close one which will make for excellent trading. It all gets under way at 08:00am and once we know who wins the toss I'll be laying the batting side.

Update: Some very questionable umpiring decisions (wrong) particularly when the umpire called Gayle not out but was overruled by the third umpire. What followed was a batting collapse. I only made one trade, laying Sydney at 1.95 but only for tiny stakes. It proved to be the right trade as after that the market only went one way as Perth cruised to 9 Wickets win. Not to take anything away from them, the Perth Bowling and fielding were first class.