When you think of sports that are popular in Ireland, you probably think of the likes of Gaelic football, Gaelic hurling, and football. However, there is one sport that is slowly growing in popularity, and that is cricket. Nowadays, there are 50,000 Irish people playing cricket across the country in schools, universities, clubs, and non-league teams. In 2007, this figure stood at around 15,000 people, which goes to show how it is growing in popularity.
History of Cricket in Ireland
The British, like they did in so many places, introduced cricket to the Irish, with the earliest known cricket game taking place in Dublin in 1792. At the beginning of the 19th century, cricket was being played in Ballinasloe and Kilkenny, and these clubs are still in existence to this very day. In 1855, the first Irish national side took on an English national side in Dublin, and the game became more and more popular up until the 1880s.
However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Gaelic Athletic Association placed a ban on playing foreign games, and this was not lifted for almost seven decades. Anyone who was caught playing foreign sports such as cricket would not be allowed to play Irish games such as Gaelic football or hurling. After the ban was lifted, cricket started to become popular again, and when the nation had success at the World Cup in 2007, there was an even bigger increase in popularity.
Ireland became Full Members of the ICC in 2017, meaning that they are now able to play Test Cricket. They played England for the first time in a Test in 2019 at Lord’s and although they were comfortably beaten in the end, they did manage to give England a little bit of a scare.
Betting on Cricket
The Irish love to bet on many sports, and cricket is one of them. When it comes to bookies to choose from for betting on cricket, the Irish are actually quite spoiled for choice. There are plenty of sports betting sites out there that are more than happy to accept Irish punters and that offer a wide variety of cricket betting markets and odds that are very reasonable. Irish cricket betting fans can bet on the exact same markets that everyone else can, which includes the likes of:
- The winning team
- Number of runs scored
- Whether a batsman will score a century
- The next mode of dismissal
- The number of runs scored in an over
- The batsman who will score the most runs
- The bowler who will get the most wickets
So, what are the best bookmakers for Irish players to bet on cricket? Well, in our opinion, Irish cricket betting fans cannot go wrong with the likes of Betiton, Betway, and Mr. Green. If you decide to create an account with one of the aforementioned bookmakers, then we are certain that you will have a fantastic cricket betting experience every single time that you log into bet.