In a T20 or a one-day match the match odds market lists two teams and one of them wins. A Test adds a third runner, the draw, and that price is where most Test cricket questions in the chat begin. This post describes the market as it appears on the Cricbet99 panel: the three prices, how the draw moves across five days and when the weather turns, how session and innings markets differ from T20, and how a rain-hit Test is settled. Nothing here says which runner to back.
Three runners, six prices
Open a Test match odds market and there are three rows: the two teams and the draw. Each row shows a back price in one colour and a lay price in the other, so six prices are visible at once, with a matched amount beneath each. A back bet on a team wins only if that team wins the match outright. A back bet on the draw wins only if the match ends with neither side having won. Laying the draw is the mirror: it wins if either team wins and loses if the match is drawn.
Add up the implied chances of the three back prices and the total is a little over 100 percent; that gap is the market's margin and it is normal. A tie, where the side batting last is bowled out with the scores level, is a separate outcome from a draw, and the market rules on the panel say how it is settled. It is rare, but the rule is one sentence and worth reading.
What the draw price does over five days
On the first morning the draw price reflects the pitch, the forecast and the two sides, and it can sit anywhere from short to very long. From there it responds to the same three things every other price does: runs, wickets and overs remaining. A long first-innings score on a flat surface tends to shorten the draw; a clatter of wickets on the first evening tends to lengthen it, because a result now looks reachable. The price moves most in the final two days, when the overs left and the runs needed can be counted rather than guessed.
Two things catch newer players. First, the draw can be the shortest price on day four and the longest on day five, or the other way round, and neither move is a mistake. Second, when the market has made up its mind, the draw price goes to the floor or the ceiling and stays there; a bet placed then is matched, if at all, for almost no return or against almost no liability. The desk explains the arithmetic of any price on request; it does not say whether the price is right.
Weather, light and suspension
A rain forecast moves the draw before a ball is bowled, and a session lost moves it again. When play stops for rain or bad light the market is usually suspended, which means the prices grey out, nothing can be placed and nothing can be cancelled; unmatched bets stay in the queue and matched bets stand. When play resumes, the market reopens at prices that already account for the overs lost. Anyone with an unmatched bet from before the stoppage should check the open bets list on the panel on resumption, because the price asked for may now sit well away from where the market reopened.
The fifth-day forecast is often more important than the fifth-day play. Markets react to it the evening before, which is why a draw price can move sharply overnight with no cricket played at all.
Session and innings markets in a Test
A T20 session line covers a fixed block of overs, say the first six, and the innings is short enough that the block almost always completes. In a Test the blocks are longer and the innings can run for days, so the lines come in two kinds: a fixed over count, such as the first 25 overs of an innings, and a session of play, such as runs until lunch or until the close. Both are settled on the total scored inside the block, with wides and no-balls included. A block the innings or the day's play never reaches the end of is void and the stake goes back; that happens far more in Tests, because rain, bad light and declarations all cut blocks short.
Innings runs lines are the Test speciality. The line is set on the full total of an innings that may last two days, and a declaration counts as the innings finishing, so the market settles on the score at the moment of the declaration. A batter's runs line is read from the final scorecard of that innings, however many days the batter was at the crease. Fall of next wicket and next batter markets work as in the shorter formats, only slower.
| Market | T20 | Test |
|---|---|---|
| Match odds | Two runners | Three runners, including the draw |
| Session line | Fixed overs, rarely cut short | Fixed overs or a session of play, often cut short |
| Innings total | One line, one evening | One line, up to two days, ended by a declaration |
| Rain with no result | DLS result decides | The draw is the result |
| Match never starts | Markets void | Markets void |
How a rain-affected Test settles
The DLS method belongs to limited-overs cricket; in the shorter formats the desk's rule is that the DLS result decides match odds. A Test has no DLS. Lost sessions are simply lost, and the match is either finished inside the time that remains or it is not. A Test that reaches the end of the fifth day without a result is a draw, and the draw is settled as the winner however one-sided the play was. A Test washed out entirely after the first ball has been bowled is also a draw under the rules shown on the panel. A Test in which no ball is bowled is treated as not having happened, and match odds are void with stakes returned.
Session lines settle on their own terms: a block that completed before the weather is settled on its total; a block that did not is void. An innings runs line on an innings that was never completed, whether by rain or because the match ended first, is void as well. The settled bets list shows each of these as a separate line, so a Test can leave a mix of wins, losses and voids from a single afternoon.
Reading your Test bets afterwards
After the final session the settled list carries one line per bet. A draw bet shows as won or lost; a session line shows as won, lost or void with the stake returned; an innings line the same. If a line does not match what you expected, send a capture of it with the market's name in the chat; the desk brings the identical bet up on its own screen and reads back the rule that produced the result. Where the exchange has broken its own rules, the desk takes it up with them, and the correction shows on the statement as a reversal followed by a new entry.
Five days is a long time to hold a position, and a Test is where a deposit ceiling set in the chat does its real work. This site and its desk serve adults only; the same markets return next match.
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Questions about this, answered by the desk
Is a tie the same as a draw in Test match odds?
No. A tie is the side batting last being bowled out with the scores level and is a separate outcome. The market rules on the Cricbet99 panel state how a tie is settled; the draw runner does not win on a tie.
Why did the draw price jump overnight when nothing was played?
Because the market prices the forecast as well as the cricket. A change in the fifth-day outlook, or in the overs expected to be lost, moves the draw before play starts.
Does DLS apply to Test matches?
No. DLS decides match odds in limited-overs games. A Test that loses time simply has less time; if it does not finish, the draw wins.
What happens to a session bet when rain ends the day early?
If the block of overs or the session of play it covered was finished before the stop, it settles on the runs scored. If it was not finished, it is void and the stake returns to the balance.
How is an innings runs line settled after a declaration?
The declaration ends the innings, so the line settles on the score at that moment, extras included. If the innings is never completed at all, by rain or the match ending, the line is void.
Will the desk tell me whether the draw is likely?
No. The desk explains how the price works and how a bet settles. It gives no view on any runner in any market.
