The France national cricket team is the men's team that represents the country of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

international cricket International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches. Most games are played ...

. They became an associate member of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

(ICC) in 1998, having previously been an affiliate member since 1987.France
at CricketArchive The country is best known for winning the silver medal in the cricket event at the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, the only time cricket has been held at the Olympics. France now plays most of its matches in

European Cricket Council The European Cricket Council (ECC) is an international body which oversaw cricket in European countries other than the Test-playing cricketing nation of England, the only European Full Member of the ICC for the duration of the ECC's existence. ...

(ECC) tournaments, although the team also appeared at the

2001 ICC Trophy The 2001 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Ontario, Canada in 2001. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Three spots in the World Cup were on offer and the Netherlands, host nation Canada ...

. In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

matches played between France and other

ICC members The International Cricket Council (ICC) was founded at Lord's on 15 June 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference, with Australia, England, and South Africa as its founding members. In the beginning, only countries within the Commonwealth could ...

after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I.

History

Early years

One of the many theories about the origin of cricket is that France could be a possible birthplace of the game. A mention of a bat and ball game called "criquet" in a village of the

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

occurs in a French manuscript of 1478, and the word "criquet" is an old French word meaning "post" or "wicket". However, it is equally possible that this could be an early variant of

croquet Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Its international governing body is the Wor ...

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

, son of former British Prime Minister

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

mentioned seeing cricket in Paris in 1766. The

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) were due to make the first ever international cricket tour of France, in 1789, however this was cancelled due to the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. This match was finally played in 1989, as part of the bicentennial celebrations of the revolution, with France beating the MCC by 7 wickets. The first documented match took place in the Bois de Boulogne between Paris Cricket Club and Nottingham Amateurs in 1864. Paris Cricket Club published a book explaining the game the following year.

Olympic Games

The one and only appearance for cricket at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

took place in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

, with the French team losing the only match played, and thus remaining the reigning silver medal holders to this day. The French team however, consisted solely of British residents in Paris, members of the

Standard Athletic Club The Standard Athletic Club is a British social club in Paris, created on 1 March 1890, as the first football clubs in France. The Standard Athletic Club won the first French football championship in 1894, and then again in 1895, 1897, 1898 and 1 ...

. The match was twelve-a-side and the following players represented France: *

Philip Tomalin Philip Humphreys Tomalin (10 April 1856–12 February 1940) was a British-French sportsman and sports administrator. Tomalin was born in Kensington. He was member of the Norse Rowing Club in Richmond, and the Carlton Cricket Club that play ...

(

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

William Anderson William Anderson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * William Anderson (artist) (1757–1837), painter of marine and historical paintings * William Anderson (theatre) (1868–1940), Australian stage entrepreneur * William Anderson (1911–1986), ...

* William Attrill * John Braid * W. Browning (

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

) * Robert Horne *

Timothée Jordan A cricket tournament, played as part of the 1900 Summer Olympics, took place on 19–20 August at the Vélodrome de Vincennes. The only match of the tournament was played between teams representing Great Britain and France and was won by 158 ru ...

* Arthur MacEvoy * Douglas Robinson * H. F. Roques * Alfred Schneidau * Henry Terry The Standard Athletic Club restaged the 1900 Olympic Cricket match in 1987, and France played the MCC in

Meudon Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...

in 1989. In 1910, France took part in an exhibition tournament in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, also involving the MCC,

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. They played one game, against the Netherlands, winning by 63 runs.

The modern era

Many cricket clubs folded after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but an influx of English and Asian immigrants led to a resurgence of the game in the early 1980s. The current French Cricket Association was formed in 1987, and they gained Affiliate membership of the ICC the same year. After the win in the 1989 match mentioned above, there were a handful of tours from English county teams, and France toured

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in 1996, losing both matches against the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

. In 1997, they played in the European Nations Cup in

Zuoz Zuoz () is a municipality in the Maloja Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. History Zuoz is first mentioned about 840 as ''Zuzes''. Historically, Zuoz was the political center of the upper Engadin. It was the seat of the local bishop. Bu ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, winning after beating

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

by one run in the final. This match was included in the

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

list of 100 best matches of the 20th century as David Bordes ran the winning

leg bye In cricket, a leg bye is a type of extra. It is a run scored by the batting team if the batter has not hit the ball with their bat, but the ball has hit the batter's body or protective gear. It is covered by Law 23 of the Laws of Cricket. Scoring ...

with a

fractured skull A skull fracture is a break in one or more of the eight bones that form the cranial portion of the skull, usually occurring as a result of blunt force trauma. If the force of the impact is excessive, the bone may fracture at or near the site of t ...

. They played in the European Championship in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1998, finishing eighth after losing to Germany in a play-off.1998 European Championship
at CricketEurope They became an associate member of the ICC the same year. They finished third in Division Two of the 2000 European Championship.2000 European Championship
at CricketEurope France played their only

ICC Trophy The ICC World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the Cricket World Cup qualifi ...

in the 2001 tournament in Canada, though they did not progress beyond the first round.2001 ICC Trophy
at CricketEurope The following year, they finished fifth in Division Two of the European Championships,Tables and results for the 2002 European Championship
at the tournament's official site and finished as runners up in the 2004 tournament.2004 European Championships Division Two
at the

website They finished sixth in the 2006 tournament after losing a play-off to

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

.2006 European Championship Division Two
at CricketEurope In 2008, France finished fourth in Division 2 of the European Championship. In 2010, France finished third in the same competition, narrowly missing out on qualification for the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight. In 2011, they finished sixth in the ICC Europe Division 1 T20 Championship after losing the fifth place play-off match to Norway. In 2012, they finished second in the ICC European World Cricket League 8 Qualifier, held in La Manga, Spain; again missing out on qualification for Division 8 of the World Cricket League. In 2018, France competed at the ICC World Twenty20 Europe Region Qualifier in Netherlands. In 2021, France played their first ever T20 international match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in a tri-nation series in Germany, winning the match by 4 wickets.

Grounds

Tournament History

ICC Trophy

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

inclusive: Not eligible – Not an ICC member *

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

inclusive: Not eligible – ICC affiliate member *

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

: First round *

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

: Did not qualify

European Championship

*1991: 8th place *1993: 1st place (Division Two) *1998: 3rd place (Division Two) *2002: 2nd place (Division Two) *2006: 6th place (Division Two) *2008: 4th place (Division Two) *2010: 3rd place (Division Two) *2011: 6th place (Division One, T20) *2013: 5th place (Division One, T20)

Records and Statistics

International match summary — France ''Last updated 31 July 2022''

Twenty20 International

* Highest score: 183/7 v.

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

on 30 July 2022 at

Kerava National Cricket Ground The Kerava National Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Kerava, Finland, home to the Kerava Cricket Club. The ground was opened in June 2014, in the presence of England Test cricket, Test cricketer Mike Brearley and Lord Mervyn King, Baron Kin ...

Kerava Kerava (; sv, Kervo) is a town and municipality within the Uusimaa region of Finland. The municipalities of Vantaa, Sipoo and Tuusula are adjacent to Kerava, which is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The town has a population of () an ...

. * Highest individual score: 109, Gustav Mckeon v.

on 25 July 2022 at

Tikkurila Cricket Ground The Finnish national cricket team is the team that represents Finland in international cricket. It is organised by the Cricket Finland. History Cricket was first played in Finland in the 1960s, but didn't become formally organised until the 1970 ...

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...

. * Best bowling figures in an innings: 4/20, Zain Ahmad v.

on 25 July 2022 at

. T20I record versus other nations ''Records complete to T20I #1712. Last updated 31 July 2022.''

Notable players

The following French national team players have played first-class or

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

: * Waseem Bhatti – played first-class cricket for

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

in 1998 and 1999 * Simon Hewitt – played first-class cricket for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1984 * David Holt – played first-class cricket for

Loughborough UCCE Loughborough MCC University (previously known as Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence) is a cricket coaching centre based at Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, and the name under which the universi ...

in 2005 and 2006 * Paul Wakefield – played List A cricket for

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

in 1983Paul Wakefield
at Cricket Archive

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:France National Cricket Team 1987 establishments in France Cricket in France France in international cricket National cricket teams

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...