How to Predict Test Cricket Matches | Which team will win? – Tips & Tricks for 2020

Most of the people and fans think that it’s too hard to predict cricket matches especially Test cricket matches. But, it’s not true. Additionally, the truth is it’s actually quite easy to predict Test cricket matches. All you need to think thoroughly to predict Test cricket matches. Besides, you can have an idea from this article How to Predict Cricket Matches? of us. However, we can predict most of the things approximately but not definitely. After all, cricket is a game of uncertainty. You can’t predict anything precisely in cricket. There’s no way. On the other hand, anything can happen in a game like cricket. Besides, if you try, you’ll be disappointed. So, instead of trying to be perfect, try possibilities when predicting cricket matches. In this article, we are going to show how to predict Test cricket matches?

Let’s start it.

How to Predict Test Cricket Matches | Which team will win? – Tips & Tricks for 2020

There are several factors and analyses you need to do in order to predict a cricket match today. Here are those factors we are going to discuss in this article –

• • Test Team Ranking,
  • Home Advantage,
  • Recent Form,
  • Head to Head,
  • Field Condition,
  • Player Analysis,
  • Pitch Support and
  • Exceptional.

So, now let’s go to the discussion –

• Find “Test Team Ranking” to Predict Test Cricket Matches.

  <strong>What is Team Ranking?</strong>

  Test Team Rankings in cricket is a ranking of teams in terms of Test by ICC (International Cricket Council)

Right now, ICC World Test Championship(WTC) is going on in Test cricket. Moreover, the top 9 teams of world cricket have participated in this competition. ICC is also providing the up-to-date point table of the WTC team ranking. This team ranking can help to identify the teams that have commanding the cricket’s purest format and of course, predict Test cricket matches.

Example:  

Bangladesh Tour of India, 2019 Test Match Prediction

November 3 – November 26

3 T20Is, 2 Tests

Bangladesh toured in India in 2019’s November for 3 T20Is and 2 Test matches. Although Bangladesh did a good performance in T20Is but totally failed to show any progress in Test matches. Moreover, the final Test match happened in Eden Gardens, Kolkata. This was a day-night Test. Conversely, this was actually the first-ever day-night Test in international cricket. Besides, India just demolished Bangladesh in both Tests as the first Test ended in three days whilst the second one lasted only two and a half-days. However, we predicted the Test cricket matches will be win by India by a good margin and it happened. So, it shows team ranking has a deep impact on predict Test cricket matches.

The match result:

India won both Tests by innings difference and demolished Bangladesh in the process (Matched).

• “Home Advantage” is mandatory to predict which team will win in a cricket match.

  <strong>What is Home Advantage?</strong>

  Home Advantage is a cricket term where Home means a team is going to play in their home-ground and get an advantage over the Away team.

The home team is those who play in their own ground. In sports, home ground carries such a greater advantage. The cheers and crowds from the home supporters, well-known surroundings, people, etc. thing have a deep impact on a team’s overall performance. In cricket, home advantage is such a huge advantage, especially in Test cricket. Particularly, as Test cricket is the longest version of the game, players need to keep their body fit and keep their confidence for five days long. Moreover, it’s not an easy task to do it in the away ground. Therefore, the home team possesses a greater advantage and home/away condition has a huge impact on today Test cricket match prediction.

Example:

Bangladesh Tour in Pakistan 2020,

February 7 – February 11,

1 Test

Additionally, it is an easy matter to guess that home advantage is such a huge advantage for every team. Furthermore, teams get immense supports from home fans, facilities from pitch conditions, familiar surroundings, etc. Conversely, the home team can even design the pitch in their own way! On the other hand, Pakistan had that over Bangladesh in their home ground. Moreover, it also helped us in a big way to predictions for Test cricket match.

Bangladesh was about to visit Pakistan for a three-phase tour in Pakistan’s soil. The third phase canceled due to the COVID-19 situation. Before that, Bangladesh visited Pakistan for two times. Conversely, Pakistan had the advantage over Bangladesh in ICC team ranking.

In addition, the tour happened in this year’s February. Pakistan got the advantage of their home ground and demolished Bangladesh in a great style. On the other hand, we already know the weaknesses of Bangladeshi cricketers in Test cricket. Therefore, the bigger weakness exposed against in the away Test match against Pakistan. Besides, Pakistan completely demolished them by an innings and 44 runs in the only Test and lift themselves in the World Test Championship’s ranking. So, it’s clear home/away condition has a huge impact on prediction for Test cricket matches?

So, we predicted the Test cricket match to Pakistan to win the Test. (Matched)

The match result:

Pakistan won the Test match. (matched)

• “Recent/Current form” of a team gives an idea to predict cricket matches.

  <strong>What is Recent form?</strong>

  In recent form, you need to see some previous match results of a cricket team and observe they are progressing or not (Like, Number of winning matches is good or not).

The current form of a team usually plays a great influence on a team’s performance. Moreover, the team who is used to winning a lot has a bigger chance to win in Test cricket matches. On the other hand, confidence plays a key role in this case. Before predicting a Test match, we should look upon the last few match performances of both teams. Therefore, the current form always plays a bigger role in predict Test cricket matches.

Example:

India tour of West Indies, 2019 Test Match Prediction

August 03 – September 03

3 Tests, 3 ODIs, 3 T20s

So, here’s the clear depiction India’s performance was better than West Indies before they’ve faced each other in two Tests. Moreover, we also predicted that India was about to win both Test matches. Conversely, India has beaten Windies in both Tests by a big margin in the two-match Test series. So, it proves the importance of the current form in how to predict Test cricket matches?

The match result:

India won two Test matches. (matched)

• “Head to Head” records will help to predict cricket matches.

  <strong>What is Head to Head?</strong>

  The teams already played with each other (Head to Head/face to face) several times before they are going to face again for a cricket match.

Before the Test match, it’s good to check out the head to head performance of both teams. At least, check out the last five head to head matches. It will give a good picture of their face to face challenge. In addition, the team who possesses a good head to head record has a bigger chance to dominate over their counterpart. So, it’s pretty clear that head to head record is such a big factor in today Test cricket match prediction.

Example: 

Zimbabwe Tour of Bangladesh, 2020 Test Match Prediction

February 18 – March 11

2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 2 T20s

Now, from the table, it is more than sure that Bangladesh possesses a greater advantage over their old foe Zimbabwe. Besides, Bangladesh only lost 1 Test match against them in the last 5 times they’ve met. Moreover, the head to head record completely supported the theory of how this stat has an influence over match prediction and the result showed it did. So, there’s not a single doubt about the influence of head to head results on prediction Test cricket match today.

Moreover, the stat purely supports our ideology that the head to head stat has a great influence on prediction for Test cricket matches. Before the series, we predicted that Bangladesh will win the only Test and they managed to win it by demolishing Zimbabwe. So, our theory won as Bangladesh won the Test and head to head has the influence to predict Test cricket matches.

The match result: 

Bangladesh won the match. (matched)

• “Field Condition” will help to predict Test cricket matches.

  <strong>What is Field Condition?</strong>

  Field condition mainly means is the field is batting/bowling friendly or both, the field radius effects to score 4s & 6s, is it easy to chase by batting/bowling, etc.

The condition of a cricket field has a huge influence on Test cricket matches. Truth to be told, it has a much bigger influence on the longest version of cricket. Besides, as Test matches are very long and consist of five days, field conditions can change with the days passed by. Therefore, field condition holds a key card in predictions for Test cricket match.

Example

India played two Test matches against New Zealand in New Zealand’s soil in February. New Zealand demolished India in both Tests.

India tour of New Zealand, 2020 Test Match Prediction

Feb 21, Fri – Feb 25

First Test

New Zealand has faced India in the first Test at Basin Reserve, Wellington. It was a bowling friendly pitch and India struggled a lot to cop it with. As India literally possess the best batting lineup in the world, but they struggled very badly as they only managed to score 165 and 191 in the first two innings. Moreover, New Zealand knew it and chose bowling after winning the toss. On the other hand, India’s bowlers are not accustomed to the Tasmanian area as they failed to trouble the batters of Kiwis. As a result, it was all in all a smart decision by the Kiwis. So, after the discussion, it’s clear the importance of field conditions on predict Test cricket matches.

So, the field was perfect for the bowl and New Zealand did a clever job by choosing bowling first rather than batting as India’s bowling wasn’t up to standard at that time. As a result, the result proved it was a good decision by New Zealand.

The match result:

New Zealand won by 10 wickets. (matched)

• “Player Analysis” is a very important fact to predict cricket matches.

  <strong>What is Player Analytics?</strong>

  Cricket Player Analytics means you need to see the player records like, the Strike Rate (SR) and Batting Average (AVG) of Batsmen and the Economy Rate (Econ) and Bowling Average (AVG) of Bowlers.

Furthermore, there’s another big way to predict Test cricket matches and it is player analysis. This is a very vital thing in order to predict Test matches. As Test cricket is the largest format of cricket, cricketers need to stay at their best and perform at the highest level to get succeed. But, it’s not so easy actually. On the other hand, keeping rhythm for a long five-days isn’t an easy thing to do. However, the players who can do it ultimately get the ultimate success.

Player Analysis is such a visionary way to judge both team’s situation and finding their strong points and weak points. As a result, you can also find a clear view of the strength and weaknesses of a team. Moreover, you will find a clear picture of which team between the participating team possesses better players at their disposal. So, player analysis is very important to prediction Test cricket matches.

Example: 

Australia Tour of Pakistan, 2019 Test Match Prediction

Oct 31 – Dec 03

4 Tests, 4 T20s

Now, just look at the top three batsmen of Australia and Pakistan. Australian batsmen are ahead in every aspect. Please, closely monitor the strike rate and average rate of them. All in all, Australian batsmen are much ahead and it is clear that Australia has better batting brigade than Pakistan.

So, by checking out the bowling lineup, we can clearly say that Australia has a better bowling lineup than Pakistan. On the other hand, Australian bowlers are much sharper than Pakistani bowlers and it’s visible.

Here, we can see the overall picture of both teams who actually have a better squad.

In addition, after checking out the overall results, it’s very clear to see that Australia has a better batting and bowling lineup than Pakistan and we predicted Australia to win the series. In the end, Australia emerged as the winner against Pakistan. As a result, it shows how much important player analysis has to predict for Test cricket matches.

The match result:

AUS won the Test Matches. (matched)

• “Pitch Support” is supportive to predict Test cricket matches.

This is another factor that has a sound influence on predictions for Test cricket matches. The overall characteristics of the pitch can decide the momentum of a Test match. If the pitch is bouncy wicket, then the team with more pacers will get the advantage in the match. On the other hand, if the pitch is slow, then batsmen and spinners will get the trump card. We generally see that the home team always makes a pitch according to their strength. Although they’ve to follow some ICC rules but they mainly build pitches by prioritizing their strength. Pitch curators build pitch according to the instruction of the home team. They can modify or change the vibe of the pitch.

As Test matches are the longest version of cricket, pitch support brings a big advantage to a cricket team. This is how the pitch has a deep influence on predict Test cricket matches.

Example:

Freedom Trophy, South Africa Tour in India 2019

October 2 – October 6

First Test

Different teams have different sectors of powers, strong, and weak sides. If we look out at this Test match, South Africa came to play in India. South African pitch is usually bouncy pitch. But, India’s pitch is usually spin-friendly. As a result, South Africa failed to capitalize on this wicket and India won by 203 runs at the first Test match.

Test Cricket Prediction Calculator:

According to the logic above let’s mark an upcoming cricket match to see which team is more closer to win.

Here we give the total marking out of 80. The next 20 mark depends on some “Exceptional” Cases (are discussed below).

• Exceptional cases for Test cricket prediction.

  There some other exceptional cases you can consider for predicting a cricket match.

  Physical and Mental Condition also has an impact in Test cricket

  The physical and mental condition is such an important thing to predict Test cricket matches. We know that Test matches are the longest format in cricket. It’s not that easy to keep up the mental attitude such a long period. This is why players need extraordinary physical condition as well as very sublime mental condition.

  For instance, Australian or England cricketers have always possessed a great physique along with great mentality. The reason is the cricket boards of them train them to achieve and work on these things. They usually go to the mountains, hills, taking army training, goes to various mental training sessions. As a result, they developed such traits from a very young age. Therefore, they always do better in Test matches than other teams players.

However, there are still some factors that are basically “not so mainstream” type. They are exceptional and they rarely make an impact in a game. But, they still have an “influence” at all. For instance, things like preparation, luck, star players, history, mind games, bringing nightwatchmen in the match, bringing spinner earlier in the first phase of the match instead of pacers, sudden change of weather condition during the game, etc. matters keeps a big influence on the course of a today cricket match prediction.

These are the ingredients to predict Test cricket matches. Moreover, you can earn more depth and concrete knowledge by watching cricket shows like Extra Time, Game Plan, Inside Edge, etc. But, it doesn’t matter how thorough your analysis is, the success rate could be very minimal. So, our suggestion is you can predict a Test cricket match but you shouldn’t expect your prediction will be right. Besides, it will be best to keep calm and watch the matches! In addition, feel free to ask any questions below about it.