We may tend to think of cricket betting as being a modern phenomenon, but while it has certainly become more common since the advent of dedicated sports channels, it has always been around. The sport was attracting gamblers as long ago as 1660 and in the 18th Century, cricket reports were far more likely to revolve around betting than the actual matches themselves.
Nowadays, you can bet on all sorts of seemingly insignificant aspects of the game – even if newspaper reports of people betting on no-balls are actually inaccurate. No bookie would accept such a bet. It would be simply too suspicious.
However, you can certainly bet on more than just the outcome of the match. International teams will tend to play series, so you can bet on the result of that together with individual performances within it, such as who you think is likely to end up being the top scorer or top wicket-taker.
Domestic leagues like the IPL or County Championship open up other options, such as most sixes or highest opening partnership. Plus you can bet on the matches live, predicting when the next wicket might fall and who that might be (although with there only being two batsmen it could be, don’t expect great odds on that one).
If you have half an idea what you’re doing, you stand a decent chance of making a profit. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can always put a few bob on who’s going to win the toss.