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.[7] 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.[8]

Malta
AssociationMalta Cricket Association
Personnel
CaptainBikram Arora
CoachRajkumar Sharma[1][2]
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member[3] (2017)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current [4] Best-ever
T20I 77th 66th (2-May-2019)
International cricket
First international Malta v. England
(Naval Ground, Malta; 9 October 1891)
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Spain at La Manga Club, Cartagena; 29 March 2019
Last T20Iv  Czech Republic at Marsa Sports Club, Marsa; 20 October 2019
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total [5] 4 0/4 (0 ties, 0 no results)
This year [6] 0 0/0 (0 ties, 0 no results)
As of 31 May 2020

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.[9]

Malta played its first ever T20I against Spain on 29 March 2019, during the 2019 Spain Triangular T20I Series. The match was played at La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain.[10]

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.


On 3rd May 2019, International Cricket Council release global rankings for Twenty20 International in which Malta were placed on 66th rank.[11]

International competition

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 UAEin 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, and there are four local teams. Marsa Cricket Club, Melita Betfair Cricket Club, Krishna Cricket Club and Marauders Cricket Club are the teams that compete in the domestic Summer League (between July and early September) and Winter League (between December and February). Marauders do not compete in the Winter League. Past cricket teams include Pop Mellieha Cricket Club and Overseas Cricket Club. The rest of the year consist of the hosting of foreign touring teams.

Grounds
Locations of grounds which have hosted international cricket matches within Malta

Tournament history

Spain Triangular T20I Series

Players
The following list contains the players in Malta's squad for 2019 Valletta Cup on 17-20 October 2019.
  • Bikram Arora (c)
  • Nowell Khosla
  • Sujesh Appu
  • Samuel Aquilina
  • Sean Byrne
  • Gopal Chaturvedi
  • Jurg Hirschi
  • Sumair Khan
  • Ravinder Singh
  • Suhrid Roy
  • Haroon Mughal
  • Waseem Abbas
  • Michael Goonetilleke
  • Aneesh Tomy
  • Alex Meears

Records and Statistics

International Match Summary — Malta[14]

Last updated 20 October 2019

Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals4040029 March 2019

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations[14]

Records complete to T20I #945. Last updated 20 October 2019.

OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Czech Republic2020018 October 2019
 Spain2020029 March 2019

See also

References
  1. Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma appointed head coach of Malta national cricket team
  2. Raj Kumar Sharma to coach Malta cricket team
  3. "Ireland and Afghanistan ICC newest full members amid wide-ranging governance reform". International Cricket Council. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  4. "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  5. "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  6. "T20I matches - 2020 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  7. Cricket Archive
  8. Other matches played by Malta – CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  9. "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  10. "Malta vs Spain, Men's European T20I Tournament (Match-3)". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  11. "ICC unveils Global Men's T20I Rankings Table featuring 80 teams". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  12. "Malta Cricket Association". Archived from the original on 14 September 2004. Retrieved 12 September 2006.
  13. Info Archived 4 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  15. "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  16. "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  17. "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  18. "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  19. "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
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