Betting sites that use Inspired Virtual Sports services, such as the popular bet365 site, are gearing themselves up for a bumper year for fans of the genre with the news that two new Virtual Sports are set to go live across a number of sites Inspired provide for in the early part of the year.
The company has developed two new Virtual Sports offering, based on Cricket and Darts to offer alongside its existing series of games and at first glance, these new games clearly demonstrate how much the Virtual Sports technology has improved even in the space of just a couple of years.
Let’s now take a look at how both these new releases shape up.
Virtual Cricket
It may seem impossible to condense a game, that even in its shortest format can
take 40 overs to complete, down to a match that lasts around a minute, but Inspired have done precisely that with their new Virtual Cricket offering.
Each game of Virtual Cricket is between two of the test playing nations in the world today including England, South Africa, Australia, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka. Each game is whittled down to just one over per team with the match winner decided only by the number of runs scored by the team.
To help you pick your bets, each team is given a rating on their preview screen, one for batting and one for fielding, with the maximum being five stars.
The number of bets you can make on Virtual Cricket is excellent and offers a similar number of bets as you would find on Virtual Soccer.
Some of the key markets you can bet on are:
- Match Winner (draw is an option)
- Total Match 4s
- Total Match 6s
- Total Match Boundaries
- Total Match Runs Odd/Even
- Both Teams to hit a 4 – Yes/No
- Both Teams to hit a 6 – Yes/No
- Home Team Total Runs
- Home Team Total Boundaries
- Home Team Runs of 1st Delivery
- Home Team Total Runs – Odd/Even
- Home Team 1st Method of Dismissal
- Home Team Runs of 1st Delivery (Over/Under and Exact)
- Home Team Total Wickets Lost
- Home Team to Lose Wicket (Yes/No)
In terms of the presentation of the game, Virtual Cricket is excellent. The commentator sounds very much like ex-England cricketer Phil Tufnell and I would not be surprised if he had been used to provide the commentary and the animation of the game and each over are truly excellent with the graphics virtually indistinguishable from a real life game.
Of course, the Virtual version of Cricket is far more exciting than the real game 
with fewer dot balls, no balls and similar and action tends to happen on every one of the deliveries.
If you have been crying out to try your hand at a new Virtual Sport, then Virtual Cricket, or Rush Cricket as Inspire now call it, is certainly well worth a closer look. The presentation values of the game are very high and the number of different bets available are excellent and the odds on the game are also a decent spread too meaning you can find value bets. As Virtual Sports go, Virtual Cricket is one of the very best additions to the genre for a very long time.
And as good as Virtual Cricket is, the amazing thing is that Virtual Darts is perhaps even better.
Virtual Darts
I have to admit to being thrilled to hear there was a Virtual Darts game in the 
offing, but also a little trepidatious given that it would be easy to take the game and make a rather poor version of it. The great news for all Virtual Sports and Darts fans is that Inspired have done a fantastic job with their Virtual Darts game, which they call Rush Darts.
First off, let’s begin with the players. Rather than having any old names playing, Inspired have used real life players currently playing on the senior tour and this includes a number of big named stars including Dennis Priestley, Bob Anderson, Peter Manley, Colin Osborne, Tony O’Shea, John Walton, Alan Tabern and more. Furthermore, each has their own nickname, a trend which has become hugely popular in darts in recent times.
Furthermore, each of these players has been motion captured for the game, which is a fantastic innovation and adds a huge amount of realism to what you are seeing on screen. The animation incudes them walking to the oche, throwing their darts and then collecting them from the board.
The presentation also matches the split-screen presentation that has become so familiar to darts fans across the globe and it is so realistic that you would think you were watching a live stream of a real darts tournament, rather than simply a Virtual Sport.
Each match between players is played over one leg of 501 in the standard format with a double required to finish the leg. Each game of Virtual Darts takes five minutes to complete from start to finish.
In terms of betting markets, you can bet on the following on each Virtual Darts match:
- Match Winner
- Colour of Double hit for the Checkout (Red/Green)
- Which Double will be hit for the Checkout (Double 20 or 10, Double 16 or 8, or Others)
- Will the Checkout be Under 40.5 or Over 40.5
- First Three Darts – Under 90/90-110/Over 110
- 180 in Match – Yes/No
- 9 Dart Finish – Yes/No
- Wincast – Picking which player to win and how they will check out.
Add to this the dulcet tones of Russ Bray, the most famous of all Darting scorers, providing the commentary to the game and you have a Virtual Sports product that for me, is the most realistic of any available today.
More to Come in 2019 from Inspired
As exciting as Rush Cricket and Rush Darts are (and both are playable now at bet365 Sport if you wish to check them out), the good news for fans of Virtual Sports is that Inspired are far from finished in 2019.
The company has also announced new and updated versions of Virtual Horse Racing and Virtual Greyhounds, which will be called Rush Horses Sprints 2 and Rush Dogs 2, which both should arrive at some point between now and the Spring. Furthermore the company has said it intends to release further new content throughout 2019.
So for Virtual Sports fans 2019 is already shaping up to be one of the most exciting in the genre’s history and Virtual Cricket and Virtual Darts have got things off to a spectacular start.
