Saudi Arabia national cricket team

The Saudi Arabia national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Saudi Arabia in international cricket. The team is organised by the Saudi Cricket Centre, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2003[4] and associate member in 2016. Saudi Arabia made its international debut at the 2004 ACC Trophy in Malaysia, and has since played regularly in Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments. After finishing second in the 2014 ACC Elite League, the team qualified for the World Cricket League for the first time. Saudi Arabia was due to compete in the 2015 Division Six event, but members of the team were denied visas by the host country, forcing the team to withdraw.[5]

Saudi Arabia
AssociationSaudi Cricket Centre
Personnel
CaptainShoaib Ali
Coachvacant
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate members (2016)
ICC regionAsia
ICC Rankings Current[1] Best-ever
T20I 28th 22nd (2-May-2019)
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Bahrain at Al Emarat Cricket Stadium, Muscat; 20 January 2019
Last T20Iv  United Arab Emirates at Al Amerat Cricket Stadium Turf 2, Muscat; 25 February 2020
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[2] 8 4/4
(0 ties, 0 no result)
This year[3] 0 0/0
(0 ties, 0 no result)
As of 6 January 2021

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 Saudi Arabia and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I.[6]

Saudi Arabia made its Twenty20 International debut on 20 January 2019, losing to Bahrain by 41 runs in the 2019 ACC Western Region T20 at Al Emarat Cricket Stadium, Muscat, Oman.[7]

20 January 2019
09:30
Scorecard
Bahrain 
176/4 (20 overs)
v
 Saudi Arabia
135/9 (20 overs)
Imran Ali 58 (53)
Usman Ali 1/24 (4 overs)
Muhammad Naeem 42 (36)
Babar Ali 2/18 (3 overs)
Bahrain won by 41 runs
Al Amerat Cricket Stadium, Muscat
Umpires: Afzalkhan Pathan (Oma) and Zahid Usman (Kuw)
Player of the match: Sarfaraz Ali (Bhr)
  • Saudi Arabia won the toss and elected to field.
  • First ever T20I match for Saudi Arabia.

International competition

The international debut of the Saudi senior team came in the ACC Trophy in 2004, where they failed to progress beyond the first round. They again failed to go past the first round in 2006, but had the remarkable achievement of scoring 499 runs in 50 overs against Brunei. Earlier in the year they came fourth in the Middle East Cup.

Arguably their greatest moment in international cricket to date came in the 2008 ACC Trophy Elite when they defeated the UAE by 29 runs, a team which has had previous One Day International experience.[8]

With the separation of the ACC Trophy into Elite and Challenge divisions, following their performance at the 2006 ACC Trophy Saudi Arabia they competed in the Elite division in the 2008 competition, in which they came 10th. This result relegated them to the 2009 ACC Trophy Challenge, in which they did not appear. They did, however, appear in the 2010 competition, in which they came 2nd and gained promotion back to the Elite division.

Besides the 50 over format, Saudi Arabia have also played in the Twenty20 format of the game in the 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup, in which they failed to progress beyond the group stage, and the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup, in which they came 8th.

In 2017, 12th choice batsman and slow-ball extraordinaire, Arron Ward, joined the Coaching set-up as Skills Consultant to impart his "Marlow magic". Arron will accompany the national team for the forthcoming 2018 International Matches.

Tournament history

Asia Cup Qualifier
  • 2018: Did not participate
  • 2020: Did not qualify

ACC Western Region T20

ACC Trophy
  • 2004: Group stage (3rd in Group B; 4 teams)
  • 2006: 10th place (17 teams)
  • 2008 Elite (ACC Div. 1): 10th place (10 teams)
  • 2010 Challenge (ACC Div. 2): 2nd place (8 teams)
  • 2012 Elite (ACC Div. 1): 9th place (10 teams)
  • 2014 Elite League (ACC Div. 2): 2nd place (6 teams)
  • 2016 Elite League (ACC Div. 2): qualified

ACC Twenty20 Cup
  • 2007: Group stage (4th in Group B; 5 teams)
  • 2009: 8th place (12 teams)
  • 2011: 10th place (10 teams)
  • 2013: Did not qualify
  • 2015: 3rd place (6 teams)
  • 2017: qualified

ACC Western Region T20

Records

International Match Summary — Saudi Arabia[9]

Last updated 25 February 2019

Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals8440020 January 2019

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations[9]

Records complete to T20I #1059. Last updated 25 February 2019.

OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Bahrain1010020 January 2019
 Iran1100024 February 201924 February 2019
 Kuwait2110024 January 201924 January 2019
 Maldives1100022 January 201922 January 2019
 Qatar2110021 January 201924 January 2019
 United Arab Emirates1010025 February 2020

See also

References
  1. "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  2. "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  3. "T20I matches - 2021 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  4. "CricketArchive – Saudi Arabia page". CricketArchive. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  5. Other matches played by Saudi Arabia – CricketArchive. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  6. "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  7. http://www.asiancricket.org/index.php/tournaments/acc-t-20-western-region-2019/3361
  8. "Saudi Arabia v UAE". CricketArchive. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  9. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  10. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  11. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  12. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  13. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  14. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
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