Malta national cricket team

Malta
Association Malta Cricket Association
ICC status Affiliate (1998)
ICC region ICC Europe
WCL n/a (regional tournaments)
First international
Malta Malta v. England England
(Naval Ground, Malta; 9 October 1891)
As of 14 September 2015

The Malta national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Malta in international cricket matches. The team is organised by the Malta Cricket Association, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 1998.[1] 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.[2]

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 on the 4th, 5th and 6th of 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 UAE in 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[3] and encourages visiting teams to come and play on the island.[4] There are two grounds: Marsa Cricket Ground, in existence for over a century[4] 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.

Current squad

The following list contains the players in Malta's squad for International Cricket Tournaments played since 2013.

References

  1. ↑ Cricket Archive
  2. ↑ Other matches played by Malta – CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Malta Cricket Association
  4. 1 2 Info
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