What is Match Wides? Match Wides Explained in 2 minutes

Match wides are the amount of ‘wides’ occurring in a cricket match, and there are a range of bets available relating to the amount. A wide in cricket means two things. It is a ball that is bowled too wide or high that the batsman cannot play a normal shot. The run that’s awarded to the batting team as a punishment for such a ball is also called a wide.

Wides do not count as one of the balls of an over, giving the batting side an extra delivery to try and score some runs off.

How are Match Wides used in Sports Betting?

The most common wager concerning wides is the total amount of wides in a specific match. This can also be broken down for each team.

As there are various formats of cricket – test match, one day, Twenty20 – there is no set number of wides expected, so the odds are fairly unpredictable. Bettors are commonly given the chance to predict a range of numbers of wides in a match, such as under or over 10.

If a bet is placed on the total wides in a match, it usually refers to the amount of runs scored rather than the actual number of wide balls. Therefore a wide that runs away to the boundary would be counted as four and not one.

Did you know…

Pakistan pace man Mohammad Sami racked up the runs for Bangladesh in an Asia Cup match in 2004, when he bowled a 17-ball over that included four no-balls and an incredible seven wides. Anyone betting on the wides in that match would have needed to predict fairly high.

See also:

No-ball

Match runs

Method of dismissal