Malta national cricket team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Malta
Malta Cricket logo.jpg
AssociationMalta Cricket Association
Personnel
CaptainBikram Arora
CoachSubhas Roy [1][2]
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member[3] (2017)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[4] Best-ever
T20I 62nd 51st (8-Jul-2021)
International cricket
First internationalv  England at the Naval Ground, Malta; 9 October 1891[5]
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Spain at La Manga Club, Cartagena; 29 March 2019
Last T20Iv  Hungary at Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County, 5 September 2021
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[6] 20 7/12 (0 ties, 1 no result)
This year[7] 13 5/8 (0 ties, 0 no result)
As of 5 September 2021

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]

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[]

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, asary 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. 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

Players[]

The following list contains the players in Malta's squad for the 2021 Portugal Tri-Nation Series on 19–22 August 2021.[16]
  • Bikram Arora (c)
  • Waseem Abbas
  • Samuel Aquilina
  • Ashok Bishnoi
  • Gopal Chaturvedi
  • Heinrich Gericke (wk)
  • Michael Goonetilleke
  • Zeeshan Khan
  • Niraj Khanna
  • Haroon Mughal
  • Bilal Muhammad
  • Justin Shaju
  • Amar Sharma
  • Ravinder Singh
  • Samuel Stanislaus
  • Varun Thamotharam

Records and Statistics[]

International Match Summary — Malta[17]

Last updated 5 September 2021

Playing Record
Format M W L T NR Inaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals 20 7 12 0 1 29 March 2019

Twenty20 International[]

T20I record versus other nations[17]

Records complete to T20I #1259. Last updated 5 September 2021.

Opponent M W L T NR First match First win
vs Associate Members
 Belgium 5 2 3 0 0 8 July 2021 8 July 2021
 Bulgaria 4 3 0 0 1 23 September 2020 23 September 2020
 Czech Republic 2 0 2 0 0 18 October 2019
 Gibraltar 2 2 0 0 0 20 August 2021 20 August 2021
 Hungary 1 0 1 0 0 5 September 2021
 Luxembourg 1 0 1 0 0 2 September 2021
 Portugal 2 0 2 0 0 19 August 2021
 Romania 1 0 1 0 0 4 September 2021
 Spain 2 0 2 0 0 29 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. ^ Jump up to: a b "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. ^ https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/134/134898.html
  6. ^ "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  7. ^ "T20I matches - 2021 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  8. ^ Cricket Archive
  9. ^ Other matches played by Malta Archived 28 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine – CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  10. ^ "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Malta vs Spain, Men's European T20I Tournament (Match-3)". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Malta Cricket Association". Archived from the original on 14 September 2004. Retrieved 12 September 2006.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Info Archived 4 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "Malta Cricket League (Summer) - Draws - 2020 League". Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Winter League - Draws - 2019-20 Marsa Federations Cup". Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Portugal to host Austria and Gibraltar in T20I Tri-series in August 2021". Czarsportz. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  18. ^ "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  20. ^ "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  21. ^ "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  22. ^ "Records / Malta / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2020.

External links[]

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