Belgium national cricket team

Belgium
Association Belgian Cricket Federation
International Cricket Council
ICC status Associate member with T20I status (2005)
ICC region Europe
WCL n/a (regional tournaments)
International cricket
First international Belgium Belgium v. France 
(Brussels; 19 June 1910)
As of 13 September 2015

The Belgium national cricket team is the team that represents the Kingdom of 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).[1] 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.[2]

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.[3]

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, though research has suggested that cricket may be related to a game exported from Flanders to England in the Sixteenth Century.[4] 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.[5]

The national team first played a match in 1905 when they played against the Netherlands. The match was played almost every year until 1986.[5] Belgium hosted a tournament as part of the 1910 Brussels Exhibition also involving France, the MCC and the Netherlands.[6] Belgium lost their match against the MCC by an innings[7] and lost to the Netherlands by 116 runs.[8]

ICC membership

Belgium became an affiliate member of the ICC in 1991.[1] They began to play in European tournaments, playing in the ECC Trophy for the first time in 1999 when they finished last.[9] They fared better in the next tournament, reaching the semi finals of the 2001 ECC Trophy in Austria.[10]

They finished sixth in the ECC Trophy in 2003,[11] and gained associate membership of the ICC two years later.[1] Belgium finished fourth in the European Affiliates Championship in 2005[12] and both played and hosted Division Three of the newly restructured European Championship in August 2007, they finished fifth.[13]

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.[14] 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 31st, 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.

Tournament history

European Affiliates Championship

One-Day

  • 1999: 7th place[9]
  • 2001: Semi-finals[10]
  • 2003: 6th place[11]
  • 2005: 4th place[12]
  • 2007: 5th place[15] (remaining in division 3)
  • 2009: 4th place (remaining in 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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Belgium Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. at CricketArchive
  2. ↑ Other matches played by Belgium Archived 9 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. – CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  4. ↑ Cricket 'was invented in Belgium' Archived 5 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Mason, Chris; BBC News; 2 March 2009
  5. 1 2 History of Belgian Cricket Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. at the official site of the Belgian Cricket Federation
  6. ↑ Brussels Exhibition Tournament 1910 Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. at Cricket Archive
  7. ↑ Scorecard Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. of Belgium v MCC, 20 June 1910 at Cricket Archive
  8. ↑ Scorecard Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. of Belgium v Netherlands, 25 June 1910 at Cricket Archive
  9. 1 2 1999 ECC Trophy Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  10. 1 2 2001 ECC Trophy Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  11. 1 2 2003 ECC Trophy Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  12. 1 2 2005 European Affiliates Championship Archived 5 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine. at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  13. ↑ 2007 European Championship Division Three Archived 4 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine. at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
  15. ↑ 2007 European Affiliates Championship at the official site of the European Cricket Council
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