The Afghanistan men's national cricket team represents Afghanistan in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Afghanistan since the mid-19th century, but it was only in the early 21st century that the national team began to enjoy success. The Afghanistan Cricket Board was formed in 1995, becoming an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2001 and a member of the cricket confederation, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in 2003. After nearly a decade of playing international cricket, on 22 June 2017 full ICC membership was granted to Afghanistan. Alongside Ireland, this took the number of Test cricket playing nations to twelve. Afghanistan is the first country to achieve Full Member status after holding Affiliate Membership of the ICC. In view of the persistent conflict and insecurity in Afghanistan, following this status, the team moved to a new home ground in Dehradun, in India. The current home ground of the Afghanistan Men's Cricket team is the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the UAE.
Shahadat Hossain is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He made his Test debut in 2005 during Bangladesh's first tour of England. When he came onto the international scene he was cited by then coach Dav Whatmore as the fastest bowler in the team. The following year, Hossain made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Kenya. At times Hossain has struggled with conceding too many runs, and for that reason was dropped in 2009. In November 2010, Hossain was a member of the squad that won Bangladesh's first gold in any event at the Asian Games. A broken toe prevented Hossain from playing for Bangladesh in July 2011, but after more than a year since his last Test he returned to the squad in October that year. In November 2019, he was given a five-year ban from cricket, after assaulting a teammate. He made history being the first Bangladeshi to take a hat-trick in the ODI format.
William Boyd Rankin is a Northern Irish former cricketer who played international cricket for Ireland, and briefly also played for England. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He is the brother of fellow cricketer David Rankin.
Dominick "Dom" Ignatius Joyce is a former Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he has played 69 times for the Ireland cricket team including three One Day Internationals, six international matches and twenty List A matches. He has also played second XI cricket for Middlesex and Somerset.
Tom Lexley William Cooper is an Australian–Dutch cricketer who played for South Australia in Australian domestic cricket and for the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League (BBL). He is a right-handed middle order batsman and a right-arm off-spinner, and in addition to representing the Netherlands, he has represented Australia in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
Roelof Erasmus van der Merwe is a Dutch-South African professional cricketer who has played internationally for both South Africa and the Netherlands, one of the few players to represent more than one international team.
Noor Ali Zadran is a former Afghan cricketer who played for the Afghanistan national cricket team. Ali is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He cites Ricky Ponting as his cricketing hero and inspiration to play. His nephews Mujeeb Ur Rahman Zadran and Ibrahim Zadran also are Afghan international cricketers. He was first Afghan player to face a ball in ODIs. On 7 March 2024, he was announced his retirement from international cricket.
Cricket has been played in the Netherlands since at least the 19th century, and in the 1860s was considered a major sport in the country. The sport is governed by the Royal Dutch Cricket Association.
David Alan Payne is an English cricketer who made his debut for Gloucestershire in 2009. A left-arm fast-medium bowler, he has represented England at U-19 level in both Test matches and One Day Internationals. He was named as part of the squad for the 2010 U-19 Cricket World Cup. Since his debut for Gloucestershire, he has become a key part of their bowling attack and often opened, and has also showed promise with the bat, by scoring his maiden First Class half-century at the end of the 2011 season. Payne made his international debut for the England cricket team in June 2022.
Andrew Balbirnie is an Irish cricketer, the current captain of the Ireland cricket team in Test cricket. Balbirnie is a right-handed batsman and an occasional wicket-keeper. He was born in Dublin and was educated at St. Andrew's College. He was one of the 11 cricketers to play in Ireland's first ever Test match, against Pakistan, in May 2018. In December 2018, he was one of 19 players to be awarded a central contract by Cricket Ireland for the 2019 season.
Javed Ahmadi is an Afghan cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm off break. He currently represents the Afghanistan national cricket team. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's first Test match, against India, in June 2018.
Wesley Barresi is a South African-born Dutch cricketer who plays for the Netherlands cricket team. He has represented the Netherlands national cricket team since 2009, playing as a right-handed top-order batsman and occasional wicket-keeper. He was part of the Netherlands team that played in the 2011 and 2023 Cricket World Cups.
Gulbadin Naib is an Afghan cricketer. An all-rounder, Naib bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium. In April 2019, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named Naib the team's new One Day International (ODI) captain ahead of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, replacing Asghar Afghan. However, following the Cricket World Cup, where Afghanistan lost all of their matches, Rashid Khan was named as the new captain of the Afghanistan cricket team across all three formats. Naib led Afghanistan to the silver medal in the 2022 Asian Games.
Graeme John McCarter is an international cricketer who represents the Ireland cricket team. He played matches for the national team in 2014 and 2015 before being dropped and reselected to represent them in 2021.
Gyanendra Malla is a Nepalese cricket coach and former captain of the Nepal national cricket team, currently serving as head coach of Nepal A team. He was a right-handed batsman and an occasional wicket-keeper. He made his debut against Namibia in March 2006. He was one of the cricketers who played in Nepal's first One Day International (ODI) match, against the Netherlands, in August 2018.
Timm van der Gugten is an Australian–Dutch international cricketer who made his debut for the Netherlands national team in January 2012. He was born in Australia, and has also played for several teams in Australian domestic cricket.
Sompal Kami is a Nepalese professional cricketer. Kami is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He is one of the eleven cricketers to play in Nepal's first ever One Day International (ODI) match, against the Netherlands, in August 2018. In January 2019, he became the first bowler for Nepal to take a five-wicket haul in an ODI. He represents the Nepal Army Club of the National League, Jagdamba Giants of the Nepal Premier League, and New Horizon College, which plays in the SPA Cup.
Maxwell Patrick O'Dowd is a New Zealand-born Dutch international cricketer who made his debut for the Netherlands national cricket team in June 2015. He is a right-handed opening batsman and has played for the Netherlands in three editions of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
Ihsanullah Khan Mangal is an Afghan cricketer who plays as a right-handed opening batsman. He made his first-class debut for Afghanistan against the Netherlands in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup on 29 July 2016. Prior to his first-class debut, he captained the Afghanistan U-19 team in the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his Test cricket debut in March 2019. Ihsanullah is the younger brother of former Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal.
