Home advantage in cricket - what does it mean?

What are the key benefits earned by a team playing on the home ground stadium? Let's elaborate on this question by considering the table below. When comparing three team-specific strength variables, all independent of the starting line-ups, we can better grasp the advantages faced by the home team.

• Travel time
• Pitch familiarity
• Number of fans

Does the above make sense? Travel time for sure - a long journey to the match is never favourable. But to make it a bit more complicated. The three factors incluencing the home advantage are themselves also dependent on how many times the two cricket teams have played against each other. Research has shown that home advantage increase with each additional match played between the same teams.

Young players suffer from stress

Research has also shown that a team consisting of more experienced players will make fewer mistakes when playing away. Young cricket players are more reluctant to make mistakes at away games due to the psychological stress factor. As a Lower stress tolerance among young players is a consequence of less game experience. When put under pressure by shouting home supporters, a young player is more likely to make errors than an experienced cricket player is. For this reason, cricket teams competing in high average attendance leagues, are expected to field a more significant number of senior players if they want to improve their chances. A good example has historically been the Indian Premier League. Players in IPL must cope with high-stress levels during every game, but also from the immense Indian media coverage. Thus, IPL teams with higher collective experience in their squads are also more likely to win IPL 2020.

Home pitch advantage affecting Formats

As you well know, cricket is played under different match rules depending on the format. The game format impacts the home advantages factor-spectra. Let's examine some figures, and we'll observe a correlation between cricket format and home team benefits obtained. In the table below, we can see that a shorter cricket match format produces a higher frequency of home winners. The results are subsequently indicating an increased home advantage in shorter cricket formats.

Cricket Format	Home wins
One Day Internationals	59%
Test Cricket	48%

Fanbase and stadium characteristics

No doubt, you need to take into account the home team fans and their commitment during a game. Furthermore, each cricket arena has its characteristics. To successfully contemplate these variables into your match forecast, you initially have to look at historical data. How has the home benefits for each team been historical? Try to size the impact each teams' fanbase might have had on the final result.

How to utilise the home advantage for betting?

Profound knowledge of home advantage improves your cricket betting decisions. A team can be exceptionally good when playing at home. Online bookmakers may not consider a boosted home advantage value, but instead, they price each cricket match equally. Using a fixed value for the team playing at home will not be efficient. Consequently, this odds anomaly can be utilized mainly by placing bets on the Match Win market.

Home team advantage conclusion

At first glance, it's easy to describe home advantage in cricket. Even so, this value is dependent on several variable factors, and therefore not always easy to forecast odds correctly. Do NOT associate home advantage in cricket with home team advantage in football (soccer). Football teams playing at home have a much greater edge than cricket teams hosting a match. The game of cricket complex, the deeper research you make, the better is your chance to win the bet. To be able to identify certain teams more characterised by a home team advantage than others will further improve your abilities to beat the bookies.