The Northern Ireland national cricket team is a representative cricket team for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It does not play in

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) competitions, as Northern Ireland is part of

Cricket Ireland Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national men's and women's cricket teams. It also org ...

and is represented by the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team. Ireland participa ...

. However, a standalone Northern Ireland team has been formed on a few occasions.

History

Cricket in Ireland Cricket in Ireland is governed by Cricket Ireland, which maintains the Ireland men's and women's cricket teams. Like several other sports in Ireland, cricket is organised on an all-Ireland basis. Following the team's success in the 2007 Cricke ...

is usually organised on an

all-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

basis, with the national side representing both Northern Ireland and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. However, for the cricket tournament at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, a Northern Ireland team took part, as the Republic is not a member of the Commonwealth. It remains the only appearance of such a side in international cricket. The tournament started for Northern Ireland with a match against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Northern Ireland scored 89/5 before rain brought an end to their innings in the 39th over. A target of 131 from 38 overs was set using the Duckworth-Lewis method for South Africa, which they achieved in the 32nd over,

Dale Benkenstein Dale Martin Benkenstein (born 9 June 1974) is a former South African cricketer who was an all-rounder. He is currently first-team coach at Gloucestershire, having previously held the same role at Hampshire. Early life Benkenstein was born in S ...

scoring 44

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 ...

. Ryan Eagleson took 3/28 for the Northern Irish team. Their second match was against

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, and Barbados scored 296/5 from their 50 overs,

Philo Wallace Philo Alphonso Wallace (born 2 August 1970) is a Barbados, Barbadian cricketer who played for the West Indian cricket team, West Indies. Having first attempted to get into cricket in 1990, he made the big time in 1997–98 after hitting 198 runs ...

top scoring with 92. Northern Ireland could only score 120/7 in reply, Stephen Smyth top scoring with 58, losing by 176 runs. Northern Ireland picked up their only win in their third match, against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. Northern Ireland batted first and were bowled out for 177, with

Kyle McCallan William Kyle McCallan (born 27 August 1975), usually known as Kyle McCallan, is a former Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman and off spin bowler, he has played more times for the Ireland cricket team than any other player, more than 40 caps ...

scoring an unbeaten 53. They then bowled out their opponents for 63 with Gordon Cooke taking five

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. * ...

Players

The following players played for Northern Ireland in their only tournament: * Neil Anderson *

Neil Carson Neil Carson (born 25 January 1973) is a former Irish cricketer. He was a left-handed batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler. His career playing for Ireland got off to an excellent start in 1998 with a half-century against Bangladesh, and he we ...

* Gordon Cooke *

Dekker Curry John Desmond "Dekker" Curry (born 20 December 1966) is an Irish former cricketer. A left-handed batsman and right-arm off-break bowler, he made his debut for the Ireland cricket team against an England Amateur team in July 1992, and went on to r ...

* Ryan Eagleson *

Peter Gillespie Peter Gerard Gillespie (born 11 May 1974) is a Northern Irish former cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler, he had played for the Ireland cricket team 116 times up to the start of the 2007 World Cup, including twel ...

Derek Heasley Derek Heasley (born 15 January 1972 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland) is an Irish cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and right arm medium pace bowler. He made his debut for Ireland against Surrey on 14 May 1996 and has played for them 60 time ...

Paul McCrum Paul McCrum (born 1962) is an Irish former cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler, he played 74 times for the Ireland cricket team between 1989 and 1998 including four first-class matches against Scotland

Gary Neely Gary Jason Neely (born 28 November 1974) is a Northern Irish cricketer. He is a right-handed tailend batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He made his debut for Ireland in 1997, and has gone on to represent his country 23 times to date ...

* Andrew Patterson *

Alan Rutherford Alan Thomas Rutherford (born 2 June 1967) is a former Irish cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper who was born at Strabane in County Tyrone. He made his debut for Ireland against Northamptonshire in 1989, and went on to ...

* Stephen Smyth

References

1998 Commonwealth Games cricket tournament
at CricketArchive
1998 Commonwealth Games cricket tournament
at CricketEurope {{National sports teams of Northern Ireland 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 ...

Cricket in Northern Ireland