Belgium national cricket team

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Belgium
Flag of Belgium.svg
AssociationBelgian Cricket Federation
Personnel
CaptainShaheryar Butt
CoachCorey Rutgers
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member (2005)
Affiliate member (1991)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[1] Best-ever
T20I 40th 40th (24-Jul-2021)
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  Austria at Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Waterloo; 25 July 2021
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[2] 15 9/6 (0 ties, 0 no results)
This year[3] 8 5/3 (0 ties, 0 no results)
As of 25 July 2021

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).[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]

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

  • Shaheryar Butt (c)
  • Nemish Mehta (vc)
  • Jamil Syed Mussayab (wk)
  • Mamoon Latif
  • Wahidullah Usmani
  • Murid Ekrami
  • Zakil Saber
  • Gurnam Singh
  • Ashiqullah Said
  • Sazzad Hosen
  • Muhammad Muneeb
  • Raja Saqlain
  • Khalid Ahmadi
  • Sherul Mehta (wk)

Head coach[]

Corey Leigh Rutgers was appointed head coach in August 2019.[21]

Rutgers, who was born in 1989 at Footscray, Victoria, is a former country and grade cricketer who played in Western Australia.[22] He was an assistant coach for Pakistan Super League team Islamabad United and was the cricket academy head coach for Dutch domestic side VOC Rotterdam.[23] In December 2019, Rutgers was also named as head coach of Falcon Hunters in the Qatar T10 league.[24] He has also been an assistant coach for the Netherlands Men's Cricket Team.[21]

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[25] (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.

Records and Statistics[]

International Match Summary — Belgium[26]

Last updated 25 July 2021

Playing Record
Format M W L T NR Inaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals 15 9 6 0 0 11 May 2019

Twenty20 International[]

T20I record versus other nations[26]

Records complete to T20I #1203. Last updated 25 July 2021.

Opponent M W L T NR First match First win
vs Associate Members
 Austria 3 2 1 0 0 24 July 2021 24 July 2021
 Czech Republic 2 2 0 0 0 29 August 2020 29 August 2020
 Germany 3 0 3 0 0 11 May 2019
 Luxembourg 2 2 0 0 0 29 August 2020 29 August 2020
 Malta 5 3 2 0 0 8 July 2021 8 July 2021

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  2. ^ "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  3. ^ "T20I matches - 2021 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c 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. 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. ^ Jump up to: a b 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. ^ Jump up to: a b 1999 ECC Trophy Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b 2001 ECC Trophy Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b 2003 ECC Trophy Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b 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. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  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. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  20. ^ "Belgium dominate to claim clean sweep of Luxembourg T20I Trophy". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b "Belgian National Team | Coaching Staff". us3.campaign-archive.com. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  22. ^ "Kat achieves rare country team spot". The West Australian. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  23. ^ Alicia Perera (25 October 2019). "National head coach role for ex-Karratha cricketer". Pilbara News. Pilbara News and Seven West Media. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  24. ^ "Qatar T10 League 2019: Falcon Hunters Crowned Champions in Low-Scoring Final". Sports Monks. 17 December 2019.
  25. ^ 2007 European Affiliates Championship[permanent dead link] at the official site of the European Cricket Council
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  27. ^ "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  28. ^ "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  29. ^ "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  30. ^ "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  31. ^ "Records / Belgium / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
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