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 organized by the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation, 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]

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Saudi Arabia women's national cricket team.
Saudi Arabia
Flag of Saudi Arabia
AssociationSaudi Arabian Cricket Federation
Personnel
CaptainHisham Shaikh
CoachKabir Khan
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member (2016)
Affiliate member (2003)
ICC regionAsia
ICC Rankings Current[1] Best-ever
T20I 33rd 22nd (2 May 2019)
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Bahrain at Al Emarat Cricket Stadium, Muscat; 20 January 2019
Last T20Iv  Kuwait at West End Park International Cricket Stadium, Doha; 5 October 2023
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[2] 30 13/17
(0 ties, 0 no results)
This year[3] 11 5/6
(0 ties, 0 no results)
As of 5 October 2023

History

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.[6]

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.

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.[7]

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.[8]

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.

Saudi Arabia won the 2023 ACC Men's Challenger Cup in Thailand, finishing undefeated to qualify for the 2023 ACC Men's Premier Cup in Nepal. The team defeated Bahrain in the tournament final by 10 wickets, after bowling Bahrain out for just 26 runs.[9]

Tournament history

Asia Cup Qualifier
  • 2018: Did not participate
  • 2020: Did not qualify
  • 2023 (ACC Premier Cup): Group Stage

ACC Western Region T20

ACC Trophy

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 Men's Challenger Cup

Coaching history

Records

International Match Summary — Saudi Arabia[10]

Last updated 5 October 2023

Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals3013170020 January 2019

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations[10]

Records complete to T20I #2293. Last updated 5 October 2023.

OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Bahrain6240020 January 201920 November 2022
 Canada2020015 November 2022
 Iran1100024 February 201924 February 2019
 Kuwait6330024 January 201924 January 2019
 Maldives4400022 January 201922 January 2019
 Oman3030014 November 2022
 Qatar6330021 January 201924 January 2019
 United Arab Emirates2020025 February 2020

See also

References
  1. "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  2. "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  3. "T20I matches - 2023 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  4. "CricketArchive – Saudi Arabia page". CricketArchive. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  5. Other matches played by Saudi Arabia Archived 7 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine – CricketArchive. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  6. "Saudi Arabia v UAE". CricketArchive. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  7. "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  8. "ACC Western Region T20 2019: RESULTS".
  9. Pike, Jon (9 March 2023). "Challenger Cup triumph evidence of progress in Saudi cricket". Arab News. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  10. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  11. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  12. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  13. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  14. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  15. "Records / Saudi Arabia / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
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