Belgium national cricket team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Belgium national cricket team

The Belgium national cricket team is the team that represents Belgium in international cricket. The team is organised by the Belgian Cricket Federation, which has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 2005 (and previously an affiliate member, from 1991).[4] Belgium played its first international match in 1910, in an exhibition tournament in Brussels that also featured France, the Netherlands, and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).[5] Since the 1990s, the team has regularly competed in European Cricket Council (ECC) tournaments, usually in the lower divisions.[6]

Quick Facts Association, Personnel ...
Belgium
Thumb
AssociationBelgian Cricket Federation
Personnel
CaptainAli Raza
CoachAbhijit Khan
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member (2005)
Affiliate member (1991)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[1] Best-ever
T20I 44th 37th (2 May 2023)
International cricket
First internationalv  France at Brussels; 19 June 1910
T20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Germany at Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Waterloo; 11 May 2019
Last T20Iv  Serbia at Bayer Uerdingen Cricket Ground, Krefeld; 12 July 2024
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[2] 44 25/18 (1 tie, 0 no results)
This year[3] 0 0/0 (0 ties, 0 no results)
As of 12 July 2024
Close

History

Summarize
Perspective

Beginnings

The first game of modern cricket in Belgium appears to have been a match played by British soldiers before the Battle of Waterloo in 1815,[7] though research has suggested that cricket may be related to a game exported from Flanders to England in the Sixteenth Century.[8] The first record of organised cricket is a painting dated 1870 that hangs in the pavilion of Lord's Cricket Ground in London that depicts the opening of the Brussels cricket ground in 1866 by mayor Jules Anspach.[9]

The national team first played a match in 1905 when they played against the Netherlands. The match was played almost every year until 1986.[9] Belgium hosted a tournament as part of the 1910 Brussels Exhibition also involving France, the MCC and the Netherlands.[10] Belgium lost their match against the MCC by an innings[11] and lost to the Netherlands by 116 runs.[12]

ICC membership

Belgium became an affiliate member of the ICC in 1991.[4] They began to play in European tournaments, playing in the ECC Trophy for the first time in 1999 when they finished last.[13] They fared better in the next tournament, reaching the semi-finals of the 2001 ECC Trophy in Austria.[14]

They finished sixth in the ECC Trophy in 2003,[15] and gained associate membership of the ICC two years later.[4] Belgium finished fourth in the European Affiliates Championship in 2005[16] and both played and hosted Division Three of the newly restructured European Championship in August 2007, they finished fifth.[17]

In 2009, Belgium played in La Manga Club Ground, again in Division 3. Richard Nash captained the team and finished fourth. In 2011, Belgium hosted the new 2011 ICC European T20 Championship Division Two where they won the championship undefeated.[18] The captain for the T20 squad was André Wagener. Belgium got promoted to Division 1 where they finished a credible 7th out of 12 teams having fielded a weakened team because of visa issues. Their performance qualified them for the WCL 8 qualifier the following year.

In 2012, Belgium played the World Cricket League 8 Qualifier in La Manga Club Ground where they beat Gibraltar, Austria and France to qualify for the World Cricket league for the first time. Captained by Sheriyar Butt and Simon Newport in this tournament, they will travel to Samoa in September. On July 31, the Under-19 Belgium Cricket Team (Aadit Sheth, Aaryan Mehta, Raj Sanghvi, Sabhya Jain, Burhan Niaz, Shaan Shah, Dev Jogani, Aarjav Jain, Alex Uzupris, Theodore Develodore, Aamad Ali Rehman, Rehaan Shah, and Zeeshan Diwan Ali), travelled to Essex to participate in the U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Europe Division 2.

2018-Present

In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Belgium and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I.[19] Belgium played their first Twenty20 International on 11 May 2019 against Germany.[20]

11 May 2019
11:00
Scorecard
Germany 
128/7 (20 overs)
v
 Belgium
119/6 (20 overs)
Harmanjot Singh 39* (27)
Murid Ekrami 1/10 (1 over)
Shaheryar Butt 30* (27)
Ahmed Wardak 3/31 (4 overs)
Germany won by 9 runs
Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Waterloo
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Andrew Scott (Bel)
Player of the match: Ahmed Wardak (Ger)
  • Belgium won the toss and elected to field.
  • First ever T20I match for Belgium.

In August 2020, Belgium won the 2020 Luxembourg T20I Trophy tournament, after winning all four matches they played in.[21]

Current squad

Updated as of 26 May 2024

This lists all the players who have played for Belgium in the past 12 months or has been part of the latest T20I squad.

More information Name, Age ...
Name Age Batting style Bowling style Notes
Batters
Shaheryar Butt43Right-handedRight-arm off break
Muhammad Muneeb27Left-handedRight-arm leg break
Manzoor Malangzai26Right-handedRight-arm medium
All-rounders
Saber Zakhil28Right-handedRight-arm medium
Burhan Niaz21Right-handedRight-arm medium
Sheraz Sheikh37Right-handedSlow left-arm orthodoxVice-captain
Faisal Khaliq30Right-handedRight-arm medium
Dumon Dewald24Right-handedRight-arm leg break
Wicket-keepers
Ali Raza41Right-handedCaptain
Omid Rahimi32Right-handed
Spin Bowler
Ravi Thapliyal34Left-handedSlow left-arm orthodox
Pace Bowlers
Khalid Ahmadi30Right-handedRight-arm medium
Sajad Ahmadzai22Right-handedRight-arm medium
Adnan Razzaq38Right-handedRight-arm medium
Zaki Shah36Right-handedRight-arm medium
Abduljabar Jabarkhail23Right-handedLeft-arm medium
Close

Grounds

Locations of all grounds which have hosted international cricket matches within Belgium

Tournament history

European Affiliates Championship

One-Day

  • 1999: 7th place[13]
  • 2001: Semi-finals[14]
  • 2003: 6th place[15]
  • 2005: 4th place[16]
  • 2007: 5th place[22] (remaining in division 3)
  • 2009: 4th place (remaining il division 3)
  • 2012: 1st place World Cricket League 8 qualifier. Tournament in September in Samoa.

T20

  • 2011: 1st Place Division 2 T20 World Cup Qualifier.
  • 2011: 7th place Division 1 T20 World Cup Qualifier.

Records and statistics

Summarize
Perspective

International Match Summary — Belgium[23]

Last updated 12 July 2024

More information Format, M ...
Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals4425181011 May 2019
Close

Twenty20 International

More information Player, Runs ...
Close

T20I record versus other nations[23]

Records complete to T20I #2755. Last updated 12 July 2024.

More information Opponent, M ...
OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Austria7430024 July 202124 July 2021
 Croatia101008 July 2024
 Czech Republic2200029 August 202029 August 2020
 Denmark110001 July 20221 July 2022
 France3111010 May 202412 May 2024
 Germany7070011 May 2019
 Gibraltar1100028 June 202228 June 2022
 Guernsey422008 June 20248 June 2024
 Hungary1100029 June 202229 June 2022
 Jersey1010010 July 2024
 Luxembourg2200029 August 202029 August 2020
 Malta1082008 July 20218 July 2021
 Portugal101002 July 2022
 Serbia1100012 July 202412 July 2024
 Spain110004 July 20224 July 2022
  Switzerland110007 July 20247 July 2024
Close

See also

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.