Israel
Nickname(s)Cricket Bible
AssociationIsrael Cricket Association
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member (1974)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[1] Best-ever
T20I -- 61st (2 May 2019)
International cricket
First international22 May 1979 v USA at Solihull, England
One Day Internationals
World Cup Qualifier appearances7 (first in 1979)
Best resultPlate competition, 1990 and 1994
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Portugal at Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Waterloo; 28 June 2022
Last T20Iv  Hungary at Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Waterloo; 3 July 2022
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[2] 4 1/3 (0 ties, 0 no results)
This year[3] 0 0/0 (0 ties, 0 no results)
As of 1 January 2024

The Israel national cricket team is the team that represents Israel in international cricket. Despite being geographically part of the Middle East, they are members of the European Cricket Council.[4]

They regularly take part in the European Championship, and are currently ranked the 12th best non-test team in Europe by the International Cricket Council (ICC),[5] having been an associate member of that organisation since 1974.[6]

In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Israel and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 hold the T20I status.[7]

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 revived the game, mainly South Africa, United Kingdom, and the Indian Subcontinent.[8]

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.[8]

ICC membership

Israel became an associate member of the ICC in 1974,[6] with only Pakistan opposing their membership.[8] Israel competed in the first ICC Trophy in 1979, failing to get past the first round.[9] They also failed to progress beyond the first round in the 1982 tournament[10] and 1986 tournament[11]

They reached the plate competition of the ICC Trophy in 1990[12] and 1994[13] and in 1996 competed in the first European Championship in Denmark, finishing eighth in the eight team tournament.[14] The 1997 ICC Trophy 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[8] and finished in 22nd and last place.[15]

In 1998, they finished ninth in the European Championship ahead of only Gibraltar[16] and the following year travelled to Gibraltar to take part in a quadrangular tournament also involving France and Italy, losing to France in the third place play-off.[17]

21st century

Israel have been playing in Division Two of the European Championships since 2000, finishing fifth in 2000,[18] fourth in 2002[19] and sixth in 2004.[20] 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 was cancelled[21] and their remaining two group games were met by protests.[22] Their play-off games were then moved to RAF Lossiemouth to be played under armed guard. The second of these games, against Greece was forfeited by the Greeks, who had travel problems.[23] Israel thus finished in seventh place.[24]

In November 2007, Israel were defeated in a relegation match against Croatia, 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.[25]

Israel played their first T20I match in the 2022 T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier.

28 June 2022
16:00
Scorecard
Portugal 
155/8 (20 overs)
v
 Israel
108/6 (20 overs)
Kuldeep 39 (29)
Niv Nagavkar 2/19 (3 overs)
Michael Cohen 27* (29)
Amandeep Singh 3/11 (4 overs)
Portugal won by 47 runs
Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Waterloo
Umpires: Mark Jameson (Ger) and Ryan Milne (Sco)
Player of the match: Amandeep Singh (Por)
  • Israel won the toss and elected to field.
  • First ever T20I match for Israel

Tournament history

ICC Trophy

European Championship

  • 1996: 8th place[14]
  • 1998: 9th place[16]
  • 2000: 5th place (Division Two)[18]
  • 2002: 4th place (Division Two)[19]
  • 2004: 6th place (Division Two)[20]
  • 2006: 7th place (Division Two)[24]
  • 2009: 1st place (Division Three)
  • 2010: 5th place (Division Two)

Records and Statistics

International Match Summary — Portugal[28]

Last updated 3 July 2022

Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals4130028 June 2022

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations[28]

Records complete to T20I #1604. Last updated 3 July 2022.

OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Hungary110003 July 20223 July 2022
 Malta101001 July 2022
 Portugal1010028 June 2022
 Spain1010029 June 2022

Other matches

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

See also

References

  1. "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  2. "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  3. "T20I matches - 2024 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  4. "European Cricket Nations". Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2007.
  5. ICC's one-day rankings Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. 1 2 Israel at CricketArchive
  7. "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 History of Israeli cricket
  9. 1 2 1979 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  10. 1 2 1982 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  11. 1 2 1986 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  12. 1 2 1990 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  13. 1 2 1994 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  14. 1 2 1996 European Championship Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  15. 1 2 1997 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  16. 1 2 1998 European Championship Archived 9 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  17. Scorecard of France v Israel, 25 September 1999 at Cricinfo
  18. 1 2 2000 European Championship Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  19. 1 2 2002 European Championship Official Site results page Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  20. 1 2 2004 European Championship second division results Archived 1 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine, European Cricket Council website
  21. Conflict affects sport and arts, BBC
  22. Protests at Israeli cricket game, BBC
  23. Israeli cricket match cancelled, BBC
  24. 1 2 2006 European Championship Division Two Archived 17 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  25. Israel relegated to European Division 3 after narrow loss to Croatia by Israel Cricket Association, 23 September 2007
  26. 2001 ICC trophy at Cricinfo
  27. 2005 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  28. 1 2 "Records / Portugal / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
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