Norway national cricket team
| Norway | |
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| ICC membership granted | 2000 |
| ICC member status | Affiliate member |
| ICC development region | Europe |
| World Cricket League division | Seven |
| Captain | Damien Shortis |
| Coach | Unknown |
| First recorded match | 22 August 2000 v Austria at Seebarn Cricket Centre, Austria |
| As of 8 September 2009 | |
The Norwegian cricket team is the national cricket team of Norway. Although the team is by name Norwegian, the players all currently descend from the countries of the Indian subcontinent, i.e. Pakistan, India or Sri Lanka. 90% of players domestically are of Asian descent, although most are Norwegian citizens and nationals. [1] In a country of 4.9 million, Norwegian Cricket has about 5000 members.
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[edit] History
Cricket was first organised in the 1960s by a few Asian immigrants and has grown to the current state of 24 clubs playing in three divisions.
Norway became a member of the International Cricket Council in 2000 [2], and played their first international tournament that year, the European Representative Championships in Austria. They won the tournament without losing a game, but did not play again until 2003 when they took part in the ECC Trophy for the first time. They won this tournament too, again without losing a game. This qualified them for Division Two of the European Championship in 2004. They finished fourth in the six team tournament, gaining wins against Gibraltar and Israel.
In 2005 they won the European Affiliates Championship, the equivalent of the ECC Trophy. They once again won the tournament without losing a game, and again qualified for Division Two of the European Championship in 2006. They won the tournament, beating debutants Jersey in the final after losing to them in the group stage. This gave Norway a place in Division One for the first time in 2008 and earned them a place in Division Five of the World Cricket League.
In May 2008, Norway travelled to Jersey to take part in the Division Five tournament. Although Norway beat Vanuatu in Group A, it was their only group stage win and with four loses they failed to make the semi-finals. Norway finished ninth overall after defeating the Bahamas and then Japan in positional playoff matches. With only the top two from this tournament qualifying for Division Four in Tanzania later in the year, Norway missed out on the chance to take their 2011 World Cup dream any further.
In July 2008, Norway met the top nations of European cricket when they participated in the Division One of the European Championship. The Norwegians finish sixth overall in the six team tournament, losing four of their matches convincingly to; Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland whilst their match against Italy was abandoned due to rain.[1]
In August 2009, Norway travelled to Singapore to compete in Division Six of the World Cricket League. Norway only won only one of five group matches and finished sixth overall after losing a positional playoff to Botswana.[2] As a result, Norway were relegated to Division Seven.
In May 2011, Norway travelled to Botswana for Division Seven of the World Cricket League and their relatively poor performances at ICC events continued as they finished fifth overall. Although they did beat Japan in a group match and then a positional playoff.[3] Fifth place saw Norway relegated to Division Eight of the World Cricket League.
[edit] Tournament history
[edit] European Championship
- 1996 to 2002: Did not participate
- 2004: Division Two 4th place
- 2006: Division Two Winners
- 2008: Division One 6th place
- 2010: Division Two 5th place
[edit] World Cricket League
- 2008: Division Five 9th place[4]
- 2009: Division Six 6th place[5]
- 2011: Division Seven 5th place[6]
[edit] The future
In 2012, Norway will play in Division Eight of the World Cricket League, following their relegation from Division Seven.[7]
[edit] Current squad
- The following list contains the 14 players in Norways's squad for the 2009 ICC World Cricket League Division Six
- Zaheer Ashiq (Captain)
- Munawar Ahmed
- Zeeshan Ali
- Rajendr Shirguppi
- Aziz Ataul
- Mubasshar Bhatti
- Shabbas Butt
- Zeshan Ahmed Rauf
- Shahid Ahmad
- Safir Hayat
- Umran Shahzad
- Aamir Waheed
- Iram Dawood
- Adeel Ibrar
- Iftakhar Hussain
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.icc-europe.org/EURODIV1/results.shtml, official website ICC-Europe, retrieved 07 August 2008
- ^ Cricinfo, Accessed 20 September 2009
- ^ Cricinfo, Accessed 14 May 2011
- ^ Cricinfo, Accessed 20 September 2009
- ^ Cricinfo, Accessed 20 September 2009
- ^ Cricinfo, Accessed 14 May 2011
- ^ Cricinfo, Accessed 14 May 2011
[edit] External links
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