France national cricket team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see France women's national cricket team.

France

Association	France Cricket
Personnel
Coach	Tim de Leede
International Cricket Council
ICC status	Associate member with T20I status (1998)
ICC region	Europe
ICC Rankings Current [1] Best-ever T20I 49th 39th (6 Aug 2021)
International cricket
First international	France v. Great Britain (Paris; 19 August 1900)
One Day Internationals
World Cup Qualifier appearances	1 (first in 2001 )
Best result	First round, 2001
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20I	v   Norway at Bayer Uerdingen Cricket Ground, Krefeld; 5 August 2021
Last T20I	v   Austria at Simar Cricket Ground, Rome; 16 June 2024
T20Is Played Won/Lost Total [2] 28 15/12 (1 tie, 0 no results) This year [3] 10 6/3 (1 tie, 0 no results)
T20I kit
As of 16 June 2024

The France national cricket team is the men's team that represents the country of France in international cricket. They became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1998, having previously been an affiliate member since 1987. ^[4] The country is best known for winning the silver medal in the cricket event at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, the only time cricket has been held at the Olympics. France now plays most of its matches in European Cricket Council (ECC) tournaments, although the team also appeared at the 2001 ICC Trophy.

In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between France and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 have the full T20I status. ^[5]

History

Early years

One of the many theories about the origin of cricket is that France could be a possible birthplace of the game: a mention of a bat and ball game called "criquet" in a village of the Pas-de-Calais occurs in a French manuscript of 1478, ^[6] and "criquet" is an old French word meaning "post" or "wicket". ^[7] However, it is also possible that this could be an early variant of croquet.

Horace Walpole, son of former British Prime Minister Robert Walpole mentioned seeing cricket in Paris in 1766. ^[7]

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) were due to make the first ever international cricket tour of France, in 1789, however this was cancelled due to the French Revolution. This match was finally played in 1989, as part of the bicentennial celebrations of the revolution, with France beating the MCC by 7 wickets. ^[8]

The first documented match took place in the Bois de Boulogne between Paris Cricket Club and Nottingham Amateurs in 1864. ^[9] The Paris Cricket Club published a book explaining the game the following year. ^[7]

Olympic Games

Poster for the 1900 Summer Olympics cricket match

The first, and so far only, appearance of cricket at the Olympic Games took place in 1900, with the French team losing the only match played to Great Britain: France therefore remain the reigning silver medalist until 2028, when cricket will return to the Olympic Games (in the Twenty20 format).

The French team, however, consisted of ten British residents in Paris and two Frenchmen, members of the Standard Athletic Club. ^[10] The match was twelve-a-side, and the following players represented France:

• Philip Tomalin (captain)
• William Anderson
• William Attrill
• John Braid
• W. Browning (wicket-keeper)
• Robert Horne
• Timothée Jordan
• Arthur MacEvoy
• Douglas Robinson
• H. F. Roques
• Alfred Schneidau
• Henry Terry

19–20 August 1900 Scorecard

Great Britain	v	France
117 Frederick Cuming 38 William Anderson 4/27		78 John Braid 25 Frederick Christian 7/19
145/5d Alfred Bowerman 59 F. Roques 3/29		26 William Anderson 8 Montagu Toller 7/9

Great Britain won by 158 runs Exhibition Ground, Vélodrome de Vincennes Umpires: Delorme (Fra) and Wilian (Fra)

• no toss
• First ever International match for France.

The Standard Athletic Club restaged the 1900 Olympic cricket match in 1987, and France played the MCC in Meudon in 1989.

In 1910, France took part in an exhibition tournament in Brussels, also involving the MCC, the Netherlands and Belgium. They played one game, against the Netherlands, winning by 63 runs. ^[11]

The modern era

Many cricket clubs folded after the Second World War, but an influx of English and Asian immigrants led to a resurgence of the game in the early 1980s. ^[7] The current French Cricket Association was formed in 1987, and they gained Affiliate membership of the ICC the same year. ^[4]

After the win in the 1989 match mentioned above, there were a handful of tours from English county teams, and France toured Austria in 1996, losing both matches against the national team. ^[12] In 1997, they played in the European Nations Cup in Zuoz, Switzerland, ^[13] winning after beating Germany by one run in the final. ^[14] This match was included in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack list of 100 best matches of the 20th century as David Bordes ran the winning leg bye with a fractured skull. ^[15]

They played in the European Championship in the Netherlands in 1998, finishing eighth after losing to Germany in a play-off. ^[16] They became an associate member of the ICC the same year. ^[4] They finished third in Division Two of the 2000 European Championship. ^[17]

France played their only ICC Trophy in the 2001 tournament in Canada, though they did not progress beyond the first round. ^[18] The following year, they finished fifth in Division Two of the European Championships, ^[19] and finished as runners up in the 2004 tournament. ^[20] They finished sixth in the 2006 tournament after losing a play-off to Guernsey. ^[21]

In 2008, France finished fourth in Division 2 of the European Championship. In 2010, France finished third in the same competition, narrowly missing out on qualification for the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight. In 2011, they finished sixth in the ICC Europe Division 1 T20 Championship after losing the fifth place play-off match to Norway. In 2012, they finished second in the ICC European World Cricket League 8 Qualifier, held in La Manga, Spain; again missing out on qualification for Division 8 of the World Cricket League.

In 2018, France competed at the ICC World Twenty20 Europe Region Qualifier in Netherlands. ^[22]

In 2021, France played their first ever T20 international match against Norway in a tri-nation series in Germany, winning the match by 4 wickets.

5 August 2021 15:30 Scorecard

Norway   112/7 (20 overs)	v	France 113/6 (19.3 overs)
Waqas Ahmed 32* (36) Dawood Ahmadzai 2/10 (4 overs)		Suventhiran Santhirakumaran 34 (39) Raza Iqbal 2/13 (4 overs)

France won by 4 wickets Bayer Uerdingen Cricket Ground, Krefeld Umpires: Jason Flannery (Ger) and Vinay Malhotra (Ger) Player of the match: Suventhiran Santhirakumaran (Fra)

• France won the toss and elected to field.
• First ever T20I match for France.

Grounds

Cricket Ground, Parc du Grand Blottereau

Dreux Sport Cricket Club

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Locations of all stadiums which have hosted international cricket matches within France

Tournament History

Summer Olympics

Cricket at the Summer Olympics records
Host/Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	T	NR
1990	–	2nd	1	0	1	0	0
Total	1/1	0 Titles	1	0	1	0	0

ICC Trophy

ICC Trophy records
Host/Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	T	NR
1979	Not eligible–Not an ICC member
1982
1986
1990	Not eligible–ICC affiliate member
1994
1997
2001	1st Round	–	5	1	4	0	0
2005	Did not qualify
Total	1/8	0 Titles	5	1	4	0	0

ICC World Cup Qualifiers

ICC World Cup Qualifier records
Host/Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	T	NR
2009	Did not qualify
2014
2018
2023
2027	To be determined
Total	0/4	0 Titles	0	1	0	0	0

European Championship

European Cricket Championship records
Host/Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	T	NR
1998	–	8th	4	2	2	0	0
2000	–	3rd	5	2	3	0	0
2002	–	5th	5	2	3	0	0
2004	–	2nd	5	3	2	0	0
2006	–	6th	3	1	2	0	0
2008	–	4th	5	3	2	0	0
2010	–	3rd	5	3	2	0	0
2011	–	6th	5	2	3	0	0
2013	–	5th	5	3	2	0	0
Total	9/9	0 Titles	42	21	21	0	0

Mdina Cup

Mdina Cup records
Host/Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	T	NR
2023	–	Champions	4	3	1	0	0
Total	1/1	1 Titles	4	3	1	0	0

Records and statistics

International match summary — France ^[23]

Last updated 16 June 2024

Playing Record
Format	M	W	L	T	NR	Inaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals	28	15	12	1	0	5 August 2021

Twenty20 International

• Highest score: 191/3 v. Romania on 13 July 2023 at Marsa Sports Club, Marsa. ^[24]
• Highest individual score: 109, Gustav Mckeon v. Switzerland on 25 July 2022 at Tikkurila Cricket Ground, Vantaa. ^[25]
• Best bowling figures in an innings: 6/21, Dawood Ahmadzai v. Malta on 9 May 2024 at Dreux Sport Cricket Club, Dreux. ^[26]

T20I record versus other nations ^[23]

Records complete to T20I #2690. Last updated 16 June 2024.

Opponent	M	W	L	T	NR	First match	First win
vs Associate Members
Austria	1	0	1	0	0	16 June 2024
Belgium	3	1	1	1	0	10 May 2024	11 May 2024
Czech Republic	1	1	0	0	0	24 July 2022	24 July 2022
Estonia	1	1	0	0	0	30 July 2022	30 July 2022
Germany	2	0	2	0	0	6 August 2021
Guernsey	1	0	1	0	0	31 July 2022
Isle of Man	1	1	0	0	0	9 June 2024	9 June 2024
Italy	1	0	1	0	0	10 June 2024
Luxembourg	4	3	1	0	0	11 July 2023	11 July 2023
Malta	6	4	2	0	0	10 July 2023	10 July 2023
Norway	3	2	1	0	0	5 August 2021	5 August 2021
Romania	1	1	0	0	0	13 July 2023	13 July 2023
Switzerland	2	0	2	0	0	25 July 2022
Turkey	1	0	1	0	0	15 June 2024	15 June 2024

Notable players

The following French national team players have played first-class or List A cricket:

• Waseem Bhatti – played first-class cricket for Pakistan International Airlines in 1998 and 1999 ^[27]
• Simon Hewitt – played first-class cricket for Oxford University in 1984 ^[28]
• David Holt – played first-class cricket for Loughborough UCCE in 2005 and 2006 ^[29]
• Paul Wakefield – played List A cricket for Cheshire in 1983 ^[30]
• Robert Mozelewski captained the French cricket team in 04/05. Qualified for the team thanks to his parents residency in France.

See also

• List of France Twenty20 International cricketers
• France women's national cricket team

References

1. "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
2. "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
3. "T20I matches - 2024 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
4. France at CricketArchive
5. "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council . 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
6. "France". Cricket Europe. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
7. "A brief history of cricket in France". cricketeurope.net. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
8. Scorecard of France v MCC, 24 September 1989 at Cricket Archive
9. London Evening Standard 18 May 1864
10. "The ignorant Olympians". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
11. Scorecard of France v Netherlands, 26 June 1910 at Cricinfo
12. France in Austria, 1996 at Cricket Archive
13. 1997 European Nations Cup at Cricket Archive
14. Scorecard of France v Germany, 23 August 1997 at Cricket Archive
15. A hundred matches of the century, 2000 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
16. 1998 European Championship Archived 9 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
17. 2000 European Championship Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
18. 2001 ICC Trophy Archived 8 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
19. Tables and results for the 2002 European Championship Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the tournament's official site
20. 2004 European Championships Division Two Archived 1 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the European Cricket Council website
21. 2006 European Championship Division Two Archived 17 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
22. "ICC World Twenty20 Europe Region Qualifier A Table - 2018 - ESPN". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
23. "Records / France / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 5 August 2021.
24. "Records / France / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 7 August 2021.
25. "Records / France / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 31 July 2022.
26. "Records / France / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 7 August 2021.
27. Waseem Bhatti at Cricket Archive
28. Simon Hewitt at Cricket Archive
29. David Holt at Cricket Archive
30. Paul Wakefield at Cricket Archive

External links

• Official site