Malta national cricket team

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Malta national cricket team

The Malta national cricket team is the team that represents the Republic of Malta in international cricket. The team is organised by the Malta Cricket Association, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1998.[8] and an associate member in 2017.[3] A Maltese national team first played as early as 1891, when an XVIII of Malta played an English team on its way to a tour of Australia. The team was not revived until 1990, when it participated in the European Cricketer Cup in Guernsey. Since then, Malta has appeared regularly in European Cricket Council tournaments, generally in the lower divisions.[9]

Quick Facts Association, Personnel ...
Malta
Thumb
AssociationMalta Cricket Association
Personnel
CaptainVarun Thamotharam
CoachSubhas Roy [1][2]
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member[3] (2017)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[4] Best-ever
T20I 73rd 51st (8 July 2021)
International cricket
First internationalv  England at the Naval Ground, Malta; 9 October 1891[5]
T20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Spain at La Manga Club, Cartagena; 29 March 2019
Last T20Iv  Austria at Marsa Sports Club, Marsa; 5 February 2025
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[6] 72 26/44 (1 tie, 1 no result)
This year[7] 4 0/4 (0 ties, 0 no results)
As of 5 February 2025
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History

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 Malta and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I.[10]

Malta played its first official T20I against, Spain, on 29 March 2019 during the 2019 Spain Triangular T20I Series. The match was played at La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain.[11]

29 March 2019
15:30
Scorecard
Malta 
98/9 (20 overs)
v
 Spain
99/3 (12.1 overs)
Bikram Arora 28 (25)
Tom Vine 4/28 (4 overs)
Yasir Ali 57 (40)
Jurg Hirschi 1/15 (2 overs)
Spain won by 7 wickets
La Manga Club, Murcia
Umpires: Adnan Khan (Esp) and Harmit Phull (Esp)
  • Malta won the toss and elected to bat.
  • First ever T20I match for Malta.

International competition

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Perspective

Malta competed in every edition of the European Affiliates Championship from 1999 to 2005, their best result coming in 2001 when they reached the semi-finals. They competed in the tournament predecessor, the European Nations Cup in 1997, and competed in its successor, Division Three of the European Championship in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012.

In October 2013, Malta hosted an International Tournament, inviting the International Cricket Associations of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Russia. Malta played their games from 4 to 6 October. Khosla captained the side to 3 wins out of 3, culminating in a final day victory over Hungary where the latter could've also won the tournament with a victory. The winning runs were scored on a wide delivery with Haroon Majeed facing the ball.

Malta followed up their success with a second successive International Tournament victory in Budapest, Hungary. Malta defeated the UAE in the final in a tournament compromising of Hungary, Poland, Austria, Czech Republic, UAE and Malta. Bikram Arora hit the winning runs with a drive to the leg-side which made it to the boundary. Malta's Christopher Chellew won the Player of the Tournament and also scored the most runs in tournament.

Malta competed in a third International Tournament along with Sweden, Poland and Czech Republic, hosted by the latter in Prague. Malta had their 7 match unbeaten run ended by Sweden, when Malta fell 5 runs short of the Swedes' first innings target of 198 runs. Heavy rain and poor weather conditions all round caused Malta's game with Czech Republic to first be suspended and then abandoned in the 2nd innings after Malta were bowled out for 122. Malta got their first and only win of the tournament by successfully chasing 140 runs against Poland, who had already wrapped up the Tournament for themselves the previous day. This left Malta third in the table, level on points on Sweden but behind them on net run rate.

In September of the same year, Malta hosted Hungary in a 3-match series. The first two games were T20s with the first game being a decisive Malta victory while the second saw Hungary become the first National Cricket Team to win in Malta. The final game was a 50-Over Match. Hungary batted first and were bowled out for 121 runs. Chellew scored a half-century to inspire Malta to victory and a series win.

Domestic cricket

Malta boasts a climate that enables cricket to be played all year round[12] and encourages visiting teams to come and play on the island.[13] There are two grounds: Marsa Cricket Ground, in existence for over a century[13] and Hal Safi Cricket Ground, which is rarely used. Twelve clubs contested the T20 2020 Summer League: Knight Kings, Super Kings, Southern Crusaders, Power Hitters, Swieqi United, Bugibba Blasters, Marsa, Msida Warriors, Overseas, American University of Malta, Paola Boys and Mater Dei.[14] The 2019–20 Winter League took the form of a 50-overs Marsa Federations Cup, featuring five regional teams: Birkirkara Blues, Mellieha Stars, Rabat Titans, Sliema Riders and Valletta Vikings.[15]

Grounds

Locations of grounds which have hosted international cricket matches within Malta

Current squad

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This lists all the players who have played for Malta in the past 12 months or has been part of the latest T20I squad. Uncapped players are listed in italics.

More information Name, Age ...
Name Age Batting style Bowling style Notes
Batters
Zeeshan Khan36Right-handedRight-arm leg break
Samuel Stanislaus44Right-handedRight-arm off break
Basil George27Right-handedRight-arm medium
Jaspal Singh38Right-handedRight-arm medium
Darshit Patankar26Right-handed
Gopal Thakur31Right-handedRight-arm medium
All-rounders
Varun Thamotharan36Left-handedLeft-arm medium-fastCaptain
Alex Hudson18Left-handedRight-arm medium
Bikram Arora42Right-handedRight-arm leg breakVice-captain
Fanyan Mughal38Right-handedLeft-arm medium
Imran Ameer37Right-handedRight-arm off break
Priyan Pushparajan34Right-handedRight-arm medium
Indika Perera42Right-handedRight-arm medium
Wicket-keepers
Aaftab Alam Khan39Right-handed
Chanjal Sudarsanan31Right-handed
John Grima66Right-handed
Spin Bowler
Amar Sharma46Right-handedRight-arm off break
Pace Bowlers
Waseem Abbas35Right-handedRight-arm fast
Waqas Ahmad30Right-handedRight-arm medium
Eldhose Mathew30Right-handedRight-arm medium
Jaswinder Singh33Right-handedRight-arm medium
Muhammad Ajmal54Left-handedLeft-arm medium
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Updated as on 20 August 2023

Records and statistics

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International Match Summary — Malta[16]

Last updated 5 February 2025

More information Format, M ...
Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals7226441129 March 2019
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Twenty20 International

More information Player, Runs ...
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T20I record versus other nations[16]

Records complete to T20I #3091. Last updated 5 February 2025.

More information Opponent, M ...
OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Austria202003 February 2025
 Belgium1028008 July 20218 July 2021
 Bulgaria7600123 September 202023 September 2020
 Cyprus1010028 August 2024
 Czech Republic3120018 October 201912 May 2022
 Estonia1010027 August 2024
 Finland1010021 August 2024
 France6240010 July 202310 July 2023
 Gibraltar9621020 August 202120 August 2021
 Guernsey1010022 August 2024
 Hungary413005 September 202110 May 2022
 Israel110001 July 20221 July 2022
 Luxembourg422002 September 202111 July 2023
 Portugal6060019 August 2021
 Romania945004 September 202111 May 2022
 Spain3030029 March 2019
  Switzerland4130023 October 202124 October 2021
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See also

References

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