With a World Cup settled by the finest margins in memory standing as the highlight of 2019, Cricket’s final year of the 2010s did not disappoint. With a new Cricket year looming large on the horizon, which betting markets, teams, and star players should you be looking out for as potential punts.

Teams to watch

The same teams that stole the headlines in 2019 will carry on as usual, with the new world champions amongst them:

England

With England emerging triumphant at their home World Cup back in July, and then recovering well from an early setback in the Ashes to draw the series, the world champions can go into 2020 with their heads high – but not in the clouds.

A champion amongst champions, Ben Stokes was a major influence in England’s World Cup win, and held the record for his nation’s fastest double-century in Test Cricket. Joe Root, meanwhile, is the man who will get England the result they need in the later overs, and he stands as a figure of consistency ahead of another tournament, namely the T20 World Cup.

While England certainly have their worthy rivals, all of the most popular mainstream international Cricket betting markets point to another memorable year for England.

India

Given the popularity of white ball cricket over in Pakistan and India, the latter’s failure to lift the World Cup trophy came as a surprise to many self-styled experts. 2019 saw the Indians endure mixed fortunes on and off the pitch, but they command fear and respect at any T20 World Cup, armed with the services of great men like their skipper, Virat Kohli.

The captain is hugely deserving of his status, having spent the summer of 2019 atop the all-time run stakes, as recorded since the end of the previous ODI World Cup in 2015. His all-round capabilities are aided by the feared fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who specialises in consistently producing extremely deceptive in-swinging yorkers at more than 140 kph.

Australia

Though it was neighbours New Zealand that came closest to snatching glory, Australia will invariably rank ahead of them in any given outrights list for a tournament. Much as it was for an England side so richly disgraced in 2015, the year just gone was a truly life-affirming tale of recovery, fuelled in no small part by the return of Steve Smith and David Warner – both of whom, many agree, are the most effective partnership for Australia so far this century.

While Ashes nemesis England are without equal in the batting stakes at the moment, Australia have some of the best fielders in the world right now, and – at worst – the second-best set of fast bowlers behind India. One man, in particular, namely Mitchell Starc, remains a force to be reckoned with, boasting a difficult-to-read left-arm spin. As a huge influence in the World Cup win of 2015, Starc will certainly be one to watch at the T20 World Cup.

Alternative picks

At this moment, outrights for upcoming ODI series matches and the T20 World Cup are set to be the most popular events, with outright odds (for the overall winner of a whole tournament or series) always longer far in advance of the event starting.

‘Guess the Finalists’ is noted for being a good alternative to picking an outright winner, where the bettor automatically combines two separate prices on one team to simply reach the final. If the tournament in question has a group stage followed by knockout rounds, people could also wager on who will finish top or bottom of any particular group.