Now entering its fifth season, the KFC Big Bash League has blossomed into one of the world’s premier Twenty20 domestic competitions.
It is also a great avenue for keen punters, as BBL matches offer heaps of head-to-head markets, props bets and T20 specials.
We’ll walk you through everything you need to know to have a flutter on the Big Bash this summer, including a look at each squad and the futures markets at our trusted online bookmakers.
BBL 2015-16 outright betting
The leading Australian betting sites have dubbed the Melbourne Stars as the team to the beat in the early markets for series five of the Big Bash League.
The Stars have made the semifinals every year so far, never to progress any further, and CrownBet.com has them listed as $5 favourites to claim their maiden title.
That would mean ending the supreme reign of the Perth Scorcher ($6.50), who have won back-to-back titles and reached every final to date.
The exciting addition of Kumar Sangakkara has seen the Hobart Hurricanes firm to $5.50, while the Melbourne Renegades ($6.50) are also well liked after picking up big hitters Chris Gayle and Cameron White.
Here is CrownBet’s full list of BBL Twenty futures odds (as of 8/10/2015):
Melbourne Stars – $5
Hobart Hurricanes – $5.50
Melbourne Renegades, Perth Scorchers – $6.50
Adelaide Strikers – $8
Brisbane Heat, Sydney Sixers, Sydney Thunder – $9
2015-16 Big Bash League squads
Besides the abundance of local talent on display, BBL 2015-16 will also play host to some of the biggest stars from around the globe.
Names like Sangakkara, Kallis, Gayle, McCullum and Pietersen add an enormous wealth of class and power to the competition’s batting stocks, making this the most highly anticipated Big Bash campaign to date.
Below are the current squad lists for all eight teams in the BBL. Each side is allowed a maximum of 18 players, including up to two overseas stars (*).
Adelaide Strikers
Coach: Jason Gillespie
Jono Dean
Travis Head
Brad Hodge
Ben Laughlin
Tim Ludeman (wk)
Michael Neser
Kieron Pollard *
Gary Putland
Kane Richardson
Alex Ross
Craig Simmons
Kelvin Smith
Brisbane Heat
Coach: Daniel Vettori
Samuel Badree *
Nick Buchanan
Joe Burns
Ben Cutting
Alex Doolan
Andrew Fekete
Luke Feldman
Jason Floros
Peter Forrest
James Hopes
Josh Lalor
Chris Lynn
Brendon McCullum *
James Pierson (wk)
Nathan Reardon
Mark Steketee
Hobart Hurricanes
Coach: Damien Wright
George Bailey
Cameron Boyce
Daniel Christian
Ben Dunk
Michael Hill
Simon Milenko
Tim Paine (wk)
Sam Rainbird
Jake Reed
Clive Rose
Darren Sammy *
Kumar Sangakkara *
Shaun Tait
Timm van der Gugten
Beau Webster
Jonathan Wells
Melbourne Renegades
Coach: David Saker
Tom Beaton
Dwayne Bravo *
Tom Cooper
Xavier Doherty
Callum Ferguson
Aaron Finch
Chris Gayle *
James Pattinson
Nathan Rimmington
Matthew Short
Peter Siddle
Matthew Wade (wk)
Cameron White
Nicholas Winter
Melbourne Stars
Coach: Stephen Fleming
Michael Beer
Scott Boland
James Faulkner
Evan Gulbis
Peter Handscomb
Sam Harper
John Hastings
Ben Hilfenhaus
David Hussey
Glenn Maxwell
Kevin Pietersen *
Rob Quiney
Marcus Stoinis
Tom Triffitt (wk)
Dan Worrall
Luke Wright *
Adam Zampa
Perth Scorchers
Coach: Justin Langer
Ashton Agar
Cameron Bancroft
Jason Behrendorff
Nathan Coulter-Nile
Brad Hogg
Michael Klinger
Mitchell Marsh
Shaun Marsh
Simon Mackin
James Muirhead
Joel Paris
Ashton Turner
Andrew Tye
Adam Voges
Sam Whiteman (wk)
Sydney Sixers
Coach: Greg Shipperd
Sean Abbott
Jackson Bird
Doug Bollinger
Johan Botha *
Ryan Carters
Ben Dwarshuis
Brad Haddin (wk)
Josh Hazlewood
Moises Henriques
Nathan Lyon
Nic Maddinson
Stephen O’Keefe
Jordan Silk
Steve Smith
Mitchell Starc
Sydney Thunder
Coach: Paddy Upton
Fawad Ahmed
Aiden Blizzard
Pat Cummings
Jake Doran
Chris Green
Chris Hartley (wk)
Michael Hussey
Jacques Kallis *
Usman Khawaja
Andrew McDonald
Kurtis Patterson
Ben Rohrer
Gurinder Sandhu
Shane Watson
How to bet on the Big Bash Twenty20 cricket
The best sports betting sites offer a myriad of ways to have a punt on Australian T20 cricket. Below are some of the most popular markets available at our top-ranked bookmakers online.
Futures/outrights
Rather than betting on the outcome of a single match, you can place wagers on the eventual result of the tournament. These are called outright bets, or futures, and they are often available several months before the season kicks off. Popular Big Bash futures markets include:
– Which team will be crowned champions?
– Which teams will make the final?
– Who will score the most runs for the season?
– Who will take the most wickets for the season?
– Which team will finish bottom of the points table?
Head-to-head betting
This is your bread-and-butter betting market for cricket. Simply select which team you think will win the match – that’s all there is to it.
Other match markets
All the top cricket bookmakers offer a few additional options under the ‘Main Markets’ or ‘Match Betting’ tab for Twenty20 games. These include:
– Which team will hit the most sixes for the match?
– Which team will have the highest opening partnership?
– Which team will make more runs in the first six overs of the innings?
– Which team will win the coin toss?
Top runscorer markets
This is one of the most popular T20 betting markets. Choose which player you think will top score for their team, or who will make the most individual runs for match overall.
Top wicket-taker betting
This works just like the batting markets, except you have to pick which bowler(s) you expect to finish with the best figures.
Totals line betting
You can also opt to bet on whether a team will score more or less than a certain amount of runs within a particular time frame. For example: if the options are ‘India over 22.5’ and ‘India under 22.5’ before the first wicket, you must choose whether you think India will score 22 runs or fewer (under), or 23 runs or more (over) before they lose their first wicket.
Dismissal markets
Another option is to bet on the nature of how a batsman goes out, or on the frequency at which a certain mode of dismissal occurs. A popular one is to pick whether the first wicket of an innings will be out caught, bowled, lbw, stumped, and so on. You can also wager on whether there will be more or less than a certain number of run-outs in an innings.
