The Czech national cricket team, nicknamed the Lions, is the team that represents the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

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 organised by the Czech Cricket Union 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 2000 and an associate member in 2017. The national side did not debut until 2006, when it played a series against

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 ...

. It made its international tournament debut in 2008, at a

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 ...

tournament in Wales, and has since participated regularly in international events, including some organised by the

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. ...

History

2008–2017

In June 2008, an unofficial national team from the Czech Republic came second in an ICC supported Euro Twenty 20 tournament which took place at the Carmel & District Cricket Club in Wales. They were beaten by Estonia with 3 balls remaining in the final over after beating Russia and a Cricket Board of Wales team in the group stage, and a team representing Poland in the semi-final. In August 2008, the Czech Republic hosted the Prague International Twenty 20 cricket cup at their former Vypich ground. Teams from Russia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria joined a team representing the Czech Republic in this 2-day Twenty 20 event. Unfortunately, the team from Belarus was unable to attend due to visa complications and their place was filled by a Czech B team.

2009: First official tournament

In September 2009, the Czech Republic participated for the first time in the ICC European Division 5 Championship in

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, finishing a respectable third (defeating Bulgaria, Turkey and Estonia) behind Sweden and the tournament winners, Greece. In May 2011, the team took part in the ICC Europe Division 3 Championship in the newly structured format. They lost narrowly to Bulgaria but three wickets apiece from Brigham Smith and Scott Page restricted Estonia to 100 all out, which the Czech team chased down thanks to an unbeaten 33 from

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 ...

Mik Starý. Turkey and tournament winners Sweden beat the Czech team in the next two matches, but a 23-run victory over tournament hosts Slovenia in the last match helped the Czech team to finish fourth overall. The highlight of 2012 was a trip to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, to face their central European rivals on Hungary's impressive cricket ground. The Czech team were comprehensively beaten in the Saturday 40-over friendly, but they came back well to win the 20-over friendly on Sunday by four runs, with young bowler Damian Kyselý taking three wickets in an impressive display. Captain Scott Page stepped up and bowled an ideal final over to seal the win. In 2013, a plan to host Hungary at the

Vinoř Cricket Ground The Vinoř Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Vinoř, Prague, the first cricket ground in the Czech Republic. The ground opened in 2012, with a second pitch being added in 2014 due to funding from the International Cricket Council (ICC). In ...

in Vinoř,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, was abandoned due to bad weather. The team played one T20 in Vienna, losing by 87 runs to Austria. 2014 saw an increase in fixtures, with trips to Vienna and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

as well as hosting the Central Europe Cup, with T20 matches against Poland, Switzerland and Luxembourg. The match in Austria finished in another crushing defeat, this time to Austria's U25s. The trip to Dresden saw the team pick up a two-wicket win in a 50-over friendly against Dresden's 1st XI. Young bowler Oliver Matoušek picked up five wickets in his representative debut for the Lions, and Suditha Udugalage and Rahul Subash batted well to see the team home. The Central Europe Cup ended with the team finishing bottom of the table, but the Czech team were the only team to beat champions Poland, and the Czech Republic also gave Switzerland a good run for their money before rain affected play, with Switzerland capitalising to take victory. A lacklustre Czech team then lost to a resurgent Luxembourg team on Sunday morning. The Czech team were awarded the tournament's

Spirit of Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cricket), bails b ...

award for wanting to play out the full match against Switzerland, despite being ahead on the Duckworth–Lewis method at the time. Opening batsmen Sudhir Gladson and Hilal Ahmad received man of the match awards for their performances against Poland and Switzerland, respectively. 2016- Played Central Europe Cup in Prague and traveled to Poland to play one-day tri-series with Poland, Hungary national teams. "Czech National Team Winner OD tri-series cup 2016". 2017- In 2017 a number of reforms regarding Associate Members and pathways to ICC tournaments were announced and due to the progress we have made in our domestic leagues the Czech Republic will return to ICC tournament cricket in August 2018 at the ICC. World T20 Europe Qualifiers in The Netherlands. Czech National Team played CE cup in Czech Republic, Euro T20 cup in Warsaw Poland.

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

matches played between Czech Republic and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I. Czech Republic played their first T20I match against

on 30 August 2019 during the 2019 Continental Cup in Romania.

Current squad

This lists all the players who were named in the most recent squad. Updated as of 31 July 2022.

Records

International Match Summary — Czech Republic ''Last updated 31 July 2022.''

Twenty20 International

* Highest team total: 278/4 v.

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on 30 August 2019 at

Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground The Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Moara Vlăsiei, Ilfov County, Romania. The ground was built between 2011 and 2013, and is the only turf ground in Romania. It hosted the 2019 Continental Cup, a five-team Twenty20 Interna ...

Moara Vlăsiei Moara Vlăsiei is a commune in the northern part of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine ...

. * Highest individual score: 115 *, Sabawoon Davizi v.

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

on 12 May 2022 at Marsa Sports Club,

Marsa Marsa may refer to: Places *Marsa, Aude, a commune in the Aude départment of France * Marsa, Malta, a city in central Malta *Mârșa, a commune in Giurgiu County, Romania * La Marsa, a suburb of the city of Tunis, Tunisia *Mârșa, a village in Av ...

. * Best individual bowling figures: 5/15, Sudesh Wickramasekara v.

on 31 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 197 ...

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 ...

. Most T20I runs for Czech Republic Most T20I wickets for Czech Republic T20I record versus other nations ''Records complete to T20I #1711. Last updated 31 July 2022.''

References

External links

Czech Cricket official website

Play-cricket.com stats database for Czech National Team games, official and unofficial
{{National sports teams of the Czech Republic 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 ...