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). Since the 1990s, the team has regularly competed in European Cricket Council (ECC) tournaments, usually in the lower divisions.[5]

Belgium
AssociationBelgian Cricket Federation
Personnel
CaptainSheikh Sheraz (Sunny)
CoachAbhijit Khan
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member (2005)
Affiliate member (1991)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[1] Best-ever
T20I 40th 37th (2 May 2023)
International cricket
First internationalv  France at Brussels; 19 June 1910
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Germany at Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Waterloo; 11 May 2019
Last T20Iv  Germany at Bayer Uerdingen Cricket Ground, Krefeld; 11 June 2023
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[2] 27 16/11 (0 ties, 0 no results)
This year[3] 4 0/4 (0 ties, 0 no results)
As of 11 June 2023

History

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,[6] though research has suggested that cricket may be related to a game exported from Flanders to England in the Sixteenth Century.[7] 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.[8]

The national team first played a match in 1905 when they played against the Netherlands. The match was played almost every year until 1986.[8] Belgium hosted a tournament as part of the 1910 Brussels Exhibition also involving France, the MCC and the Netherlands.[9] Belgium lost their match against the MCC by an innings[10] and lost to the Netherlands by 116 runs.[11]

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.[12] They fared better in the next tournament, reaching the semi-finals of the 2001 ECC Trophy in Austria.[13]

They finished sixth in the ECC Trophy in 2003,[14] and gained associate membership of the ICC two years later.[4] Belgium finished fourth in the European Affiliates Championship in 2005[15] and both played and hosted Division Three of the newly restructured European Championship in August 2007, they finished fifth.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18] Belgium played their first Twenty20 International on 11 May 2019 against Germany.[19]

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.[20]

Current squad

Year: 2020-21

  • Sheraz Sheikh (Sunny) (c)
  • Nemish Mehta (vc)
  • Ali Raza (wk)
  • Mamoon Latif
  • Wahidullah Usmani
  • Murid Ekrami
  • Zakil Saber
  • Gurnam Singh
  • Ashiqullah Said
  • Sazzad Hosen
  • Muhammad Muneeb
  • Raja Saqlain Tasawar
  • Khalid Ahmadi
  • Sherul Mehta (wk)
  • Anthony Ney (wk)
  • Phil Ney

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

Tournament history

European Affiliates Championship

One-Day

  • 1999: 7th place[12]
  • 2001: Semi-finals[13]
  • 2003: 6th place[14]
  • 2005: 4th place[15]
  • 2007: 5th place[21] (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

International Match Summary — Belgium[22]

Last updated 11 June 2023

Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals2716110011 May 2019

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations[22]

Records complete to T20I #2093. Last updated 11 June 2023.

OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Austria3210024 July 202124 July 2021
 Czech Republic2200029 August 202029 August 2020
 Denmark110001 July 20221 July 2022
 Germany7070011 May 2019
 Gibraltar1100028 June 202228 June 2022
 Hungary1100029 June 202229 June 2022
 Luxembourg2200029 August 202029 August 2020
 Malta862008 July 20218 July 2021
 Portugal101002 July 2022
 Spain110004 July 20224 July 2022

See also

References
  1. "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  2. "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  3. "T20I matches - 2023 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  4. Belgium Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine at CricketArchive
  5. Other matches played by Belgium Archived 9 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine – CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  6. "Belgium: Back on track and aiming high". Emerging Cricket. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  7. Cricket 'was invented in Belgium' Archived 5 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine Mason, Chris; BBC News; 2 March 2009
  8. History of Belgian Cricket Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the Belgian Cricket Federation
  9. Brussels Exhibition Tournament 1910 Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at Cricket Archive
  10. Scorecard Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine of Belgium v MCC, 20 June 1910 at Cricket Archive
  11. Scorecard Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine of Belgium v Netherlands, 25 June 1910 at Cricket Archive
  12. 1999 ECC Trophy Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  13. 2001 ECC Trophy Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  14. 2003 ECC Trophy Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  15. 2005 European Affiliates Championship Archived 5 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  16. 2007 European Championship Division Three Archived 4 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  17. "ICC European Division 2 Championship 2011". Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  18. "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  19. "Germany announce dates for first T20Is". Cricket Europe. 30 January 2019. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  20. "Belgium dominate to claim clean sweep of Luxembourg T20I Trophy". Emerging Cricket. 31 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  21. 2007 European Affiliates Championship at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  22. "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  23. "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  24. "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  25. "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  26. "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  27. "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
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