England A cricket team
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The England A cricket team is a cricket team representing England and Wales. It is the "second tier" of international English cricket below the full English cricket team, and is largely intended as a way for promising young cricketers to gain experience of playing international cricket. Although primarily intended as a touring team, for several years in the 1990s they played one match in England at the start of each season: between 1992 and 1995 against the previous season's champion county and in 1996 and 1997 against a Rest of England team. England A also played two List A games against the full Sri Lankan touring side in England in 1991.
Although an "England B" side had played one game against the Pakistanis in 1982 and had made a full tour of Sri Lanka in 1985/86, the first tour by a team named "England A" was to Zimbabwe in 1989/90, and consisted of three first-class matches and three 50-over games. On this occasion England A played against the full Zimbabwe side, but on subsequent tours their most important opponents have usually been the equivalent A teams of the countries they have been touring. However, as of 2005 England A have never played a match against their Australian counterparts.
They also often play matches against state or provincial sides, and in 2000/01 England A participated in the Busta Cup, the West Indian domestic first-class competition, finishing in third place out of the eight teams taking part. In 2003/04 England A took part in India's Duleep Trophy competition, but failed to progress beyond the group stages after losing both their matches. There were no England A matches played in the period between these two tours.
The England A team is now integrated with the ECB National Academy, with touring parties being taken from the Academy squad.
[edit] Season-by-season results summary
| England A matches | First-class v A team | Other first-class | List A v A team | Other List A | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Country | W | D | L | W | D | L | W | L | NR | W | L | NR |
| 1989/90 | Zimbabwe1 | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990/91 | Pakistan2 | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sri Lanka | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | |
| 1991 | England | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1991/92 | West Indies | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | England | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1992/93 | Australia | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1993 | England | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1993/94 | South Africa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1994 | England | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1994/95 | India | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - |
| 1995 | England | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1995/96 | Pakistan | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1996 | England | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1996/97 | Australia | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 1997 | England | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1997/98 | Kenya3 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 14 |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1998/99 | Zimbabwe | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 04 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| South Africa | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1999/2000 | Bangladesh5 | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2000/01 | West Indies | - | - | - | 3 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2003/04 | India | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2004/05 | Sri Lanka6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005/06 | Sri Lanka6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - |
[edit] Notes
- 1. England A played their three first-class matches against the full Zimbabwean side rather than the A team.
- 2. The tour was called off after two matches because of the start of the Gulf War.
- 3. All four matches were played against the full Kenyan side.
- 4. One further match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
- 5. All three matches were played against the full Bangladeshi side.
- 6. England took part in a triangular one-day tournament also involving Pakistan A. There were two games against Sri Lanka A (W1 L1) and two against Pakistan A (L2).
