Michael Refstrup Pedersen (born 1 March 1986) is a Danish
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 ...
er. He is a left-handed
batsman
In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...
who bowls right-arm
off break
Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...
. He was born at
Herning
Herning () is a Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 50,565 (1 January 2022) Pedersen made his full debut for
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
in a
List A
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 ...
match against
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
in the
2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
The 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was the 4th Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, an English county cricket tournament, held between 3 May and 3 September 2005. The competition was contested by all 18 first-class counties, as well as 10 minor c ...
at Svanholm Park, Brøndby. It was an unsuccessful debut for Pedersen, with him contributing 4 runs in Denmark's total of 56, before he became one of
Charl Pietersen
Charl Pietersen (born 6 January 1983) is a South African cricketer who played for the Eagles cricket team. He is a distant relative of Kevin Pietersen. His brother Ruan Pietersen also played for Griqualand West as a left-arm bowler. Despite be ...
's six wickets. Later that year, he appeared in the
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 Ireland. 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 ...
afforded List A status to these matches, with him making seven appearances during the tournament. Pedersen fared moderately with the bat, scoring 76 runs at an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
of 19.00, with a high score of 26.
In 2006, Pedersen joined 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 ...
Young Cricketer's programme. The following year, he was selected as part of Denmark's squad for the World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia, making four List A appearances during the tournament. He struggled with the bat, scoring 34 runs at an average of 8.50. In 2009, he was selected in Denmark's squad for the World Cup Qualifier in South Africa, where he made seven List A appearances, including his final appearance to date in that format, against
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
. He scored 292 runs during the tournament at average of 41.71, with a high score of 121. This was his maiden List A
century
A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c.
A centennial or ...
and came against 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 ...
. He also made two half centuries during the tournament and ended it as Denmark's leading run-scorer, ahead of his brother Carsten who made 234 runs. Despite this, Denmark failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup and finished the tournament in 16th and last place.
Danish captaincy
In 2011, Pedersen was selected to
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 ...
Denmark's squad for the
2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three
The 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three was a cricket tournament that took place between 22–29 January 2011. It formed part of the ICC World Cricket League. Hong Kong hosted the event and also ran out winners.
Teams
The teams that took ...
tournament in Hong Kong, having replaced
Frederik Klokker
Frederik Andreas Klokker (born 13 March 1983) is a Danish cricketer. Klokker is a left-handed batsman who fields as a wicket-keeper. He was born at Odense, Funen County. In August 2021, he made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut for the Da ...
in the role. He made six appearances during the tournament, scoring 164 runs at an average of 32.80, with a high score of 78
not out
In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress.
Occurrence
At least one batter is not out at t ...
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
and
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 ...
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
.
The qualifier took part in March 2012, with Pedersen retained as captain in Denmark's fourteen man squad for the qualifier. He made his
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 ...
debut during the tournament against
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
at the
Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium
The Sharjah Cricket Stadium ( ar, ملعب الشارقة للكريكيت) is in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It holds the record for the most ODIs hosted in a venue with 240 ODIs up to December 2019. It was originally constructed in t ...
. He made seven further appearances during the competition, the last of which came against Oman. He scored a total of 108 runs during the qualifier at an average of 15.42, with a high score of 38. He also took 2 wickets, at a
bowling average
In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...
of 63.00 and with best figures of 1/12. Denmark once again struggled during a qualifying tournament, finishing it in 16th and last place.
In August 2012, he was selected as captain in Denmark's fourteen man squad for the World Cricket League Division Four in Malaysia.