The Saudi Arabia national cricket team is the team that represents the country of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

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 ...

. The Team is organized by the

Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation is the official governing body of the sport of cricket in Saudi Arabia. Its current headquarters is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is Saudi Arabia's representative at the International Cricket Council, and has been a ...

, which became an affiliate 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 2003 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 The Asian Cricket Council also known as ACC is a cricket organisation which was established in 1983, to promote and develop the sport of cricket in Asia. Subordinate to the International Cricket Council, the council is the continent's regional ...

(ACC) tournaments. After finishing second in the 2014 ACC Elite League, the team qualified for the

World Cricket League The ICC World Cricket League (WCL) was a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status (i.e., teams of Associate status) administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate Members of t ...

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.

History

2018-Present

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 Saudi Arabia 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. Saudi Arabia made its

debut on 20 January 2019, losing to

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

by 41 runs in the 2019 ACC Western Region T20 at

Al Emarat Cricket Stadium Oman Cricket Academy Ground, also known as the Al Amerat Cricket Stadium, is a cricket ground in Muscat, Oman. The ground is owned by the Oman Cricket Board. In January 2021, the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave accreditation for the Mini ...

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...

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 ...

International competition

The international debut of the Saudi senior team came in the

ACC Trophy The ACC Trophy was a limited-overs cricket tournament organised by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Open only to associate and affiliate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), it was contested biennially between 1996 and 2012, but ha ...

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 Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

. 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 The 2008 ACC Trophy Elite was a cricket tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, taking place between 25 July and 3 August 2008. It gives Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and a ...

when they defeated the

UAE 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 ...

by 29 runs, a team which has had previous

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

experience. 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 The 2009 ACC Trophy Challenge was a cricket tournament in Chiang Mai, Thailand, taking place between 12 and 21 January 2009. It gave Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and a ...

, 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

format of the game in the

2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup The 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup was played from 27 October until 2 November 2007 in Kuwait. The ten competing teams were: Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the UAE. Group stage Group A Group A sa ...

, 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 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

: Did not participate *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

: Did not qualify

ACC Western Region T20

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

: Winner *

: Group stage

ACC Trophy

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

: Group stage (3rd in Group B; 4 teams) *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: 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 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

: Group stage (4th in Group B; 5 teams) *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

: 8th place (12 teams) *

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

: 10th place (10 teams) *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

: Did not qualify *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

: 3rd place (6 teams) *2017: ''qualified''

ACC Men's Challenger Cup

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

: Winner

Records

International Match Summary — Saudi Arabia ''Last updated 21 November 2022''

Twenty20 International

* Highest team total: 163/2 v

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

on 24 January 2019 at Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1,

* Highest individual score: 88*, Shamsudheen Purat v

on 24 January 2019 at Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1,

* Best individual bowling figures: 4/14, Abdul Wahid v

on 25 February 2020 at Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1,

Most T20I runs for Saudi Arabia Most T20I wickets for Saudi Arabia T20I record versus other nations ''Records complete to T20I #1909. Last updated 21 November 2022.''

References

External links

SaudiCricket
*Exclusive: Saudi Arabia’s game-changing-plans for cricket in the Kingdom https://arab.news/4av6b {{National sports teams of Saudi Arabia Cricket in Saudi Arabia 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 ...

Saudi Arabia in international cricket