The Israel national cricket team is the team that represents

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

international cricket International cricket matches are played between the teams representing their nations, administrated by the International Cricket Council. The main forms are Test matches, ODI matches and T20I matches. Most games are played as part of "tou ...

. Despite being geographically part of the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, they are members of the

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

. They regularly take part in the

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, and are currently ranked the 12th best non-Test team in Europe by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC), having been an associate member of that organisation since 1974.Israel
at CricketArchive In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

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

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

matches played between Israel and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 hold the T20I status.

History

Beginnings

As is most often the case, cricket was introduced to Israel by the British. Local enthusiasts managed to keep the game going once the British had left in 1948, but the game was struggling until the mid-1960s, when an influx of Jewish immigrants from cricket playing countries, mainly South Africa, United Kingdom, and the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, revived the game.History of Israeli cricket
/ref> The first national league was formed in 1966, which led to the formation of the Israel Cricket Association (ICA) in 1968. The league prospered despite conditions ill-suited to cricket. Games were played on dusty, grass-less football fields, on matting wickets. However, the enthusiasm of the players has overcome these drawbacks.

ICC membership

Israel became an associate member of the ICC in 1974, with only

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

opposing their membership. Israel competed in the first

ICC Trophy The Cricket 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 qualification pro ...

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 ...

, failing to get past the first round.1979 ICC Trophy
at

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

They also failed to progress beyond the first round in the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

1982 ICC Trophy
at Cricinfo and

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 en ...

1986 ICC Trophy
at Cricinfo tournaments. They reached the plate competition of the ICC Trophy in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1990 ICC Trophy
at Cricinfo and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1994 ICC Trophy
at Cricinfo and in 1996 competed in the first European Championship in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, finishing eighth in the eight team tournament.1996 European Championship
at CricketEurope The

1997 ICC Trophy The Carlsberg 1997 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 24 March and 13 April 1997. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Bangladesh were the winners of the ...

in Malaysia gave them a brief, though unwanted, moment in the spotlight. Malaysia does not recognise the state of Israel, and they faced political demonstrations throughout the tournament from the Islamic Party of Malaysia. They were the first Israeli sports team to play in the country and finished in 22nd and last place.1997 ICC Trophy
at Cricinfo In 1998, they finished ninth in the European Championship ahead of only

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

1998 European Championship
at CricketEurope and the following year travelled to

to take part in a quadrangular tournament also involving

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, losing to France in the third place play-off.

21st century

Israel have been playing in Division Two of the European Championships since 2000, finishing fifth in 2000,2000 European Championship
at CricketEurope fourth in 20022002 European Championship Official Site results page
and sixth in 2004.2004 European Championship second division results
, European Cricket Council website In the 2006 tournament, the Israeli team were again met with protests, due to the then ongoing crisis in the Middle East. Their first match, against

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

was cancelled and their remaining two group games were met by protests. Their play-off games were then moved to

RAF Lossiemouth Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...

to be played under armed guard. The second of these games, against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

was forfeited by the Greeks, who had travel problems. Israel thus finished in seventh place.2006 European Championship Division Two
at CricketEurope In November 2007, Israel were defeated in a relegation match against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, in the first international cricket game played in Israel. The loss meant that they were relegated from the 2nd European division, to the 3rd Division. In 2009 they got promoted to Second division with a win over Croatia.

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Israel participated in T20 World Cup qualification for the first time when it took part in qualifiers in the Netherlands for the

2021 T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unite ...

.It was in Group C along with Norway, Guernsey, Sweden, Czech Republic and Gibraltar. Its lone win was a 52 run victory over Gibraltar.

2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Israel was to participate in qualifiers in Finland for the 2022 T20 World Cup. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

these were cancelled.

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Given the change in the ICC laws, despite playing matches in previous years, Israel's participation in the qualifiers in Belgium for the

2024 T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major International Cricket Council, ICC tournament to include ...

was recognised as its first official T20 internationals. Israel was in Group 2 of Qualifier C along with Spain, Portugal and Malta. Israel didn't win a game in pool play, losing to Portugal by 47 runs, to Spain by 7 wickets and to Malta by 16 runs. In the 7th place play-off, it defeated Hungary by 12 runs with Gabriel Schachat adjudged man of the match. These are the details of the match against Portugal, its first-ever official T20 International.

2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Israel participated in qualifiers in Italy for the 2026 T20 World Cup. It was in Group 2 of Qualifier A along with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

, Portugal, and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Tournament history

ICC Trophy

: First round *

: Plate competition *

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

: 21st place *

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

: First round *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

: Did not qualify2005 ICC Trophy
at Cricinfo

European Championship

*1996: 8th place *1998: 9th place *2000: 5th place (Division Two) *2002: 4th place (Division Two) *2004: 6th place (Division Two) *2006: 7th place (Division Two) *2009: 1st place (Division Three) *2010: 5th place (Division Two)

T20 World Cup

*2012: Did not qualify *2014: Did not qualify *2016: Did not qualify *2021: Did not qualify *2022: Did not qualify *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

: Did not qualify *

2026 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 – Bulgaria is expected to adopt the euro and become the 21st member state of the eurozone. * January 6 – The 2025 Jubilee will end on this day. * February 5 – The New START Treat ...

: Did not qualify

Records and statistics

International Match Summary — Portugal ''Last updated 16 June 2024''

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations ''Records complete to T20I #2691. Last updated 16 June 2024.''

Other matches

For a list of selected international matches played by Israel, se
Cricket Archive

References

{{National sports teams of Israel Cricket in Israel National cricket teams

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, 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 (cr ...

Israel in international cricket