| Argentina | |
| ICC membership granted | 1974 |
| ICC member status | Associate Member |
| ICC development region | Americas |
| World Cricket League division | Five |
| Captain | Esteban Macdermott |
| Coach | Toby Bailey |
| First recorded match | 1868 v Uruguay |
| First class cricket | |
| First class matches played | 13 |
| First class wins/losses | 3/6 |
| ICC World Cup Qualifier | |
| Appearances | 6 (First in 1979) |
| Best result | Plate competition, 1990 and 1994 |
| As of 15 July 2007 | |
The Argentina national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Argentina in international cricket matches. The team is currently an associate member of the International Cricket Council and coached by Toby Bailey, who is also a writer in cricket magazine All Out Cricket.
Contents |
Cricket has been played in Argentina since 1806, with the international side making its first appearance in 1868 against Uruguay. Argentina faced Uruguay 29 times up until World War II, winning 21 of the matches. The team had previously played against Brazil in 1888 and then against Chile in 1893. For its first match against Chile, the national team had to travel to Santiago by crossing the Andes by mule, which took three and half days.
Argentina first played first-class cricket in 1912 against the MCC [1]. The national team played a three match series against the visitors, winning the first game [2], but losing the second [3] and third [4]. The teams were made up almost exclusively of British expatriates who were mostly employed on the railways, in export or in farming [5].
Between the wars, infrequent fixtures were played against Brazil and Argentina, and were at that time included in Wisden's cricket records [6]. First-class matches were played against an elderly [7] MCC side in 1926/27, Sir Julien Cahn's XI in 1930 and Sir Theodore Brinckman's XI in 1937/38 [1]. The four-match series against the MCC was lost 2-1, with one game drawn [8]. The three-match series against Sir Julien Cahn's XI finished with two draws, Cahn's XI winning the first game [9] and the series against Brinkman's XI was drawn 1-1 [10]. That series was Argentina's last involvement in first-class cricket to date [1].
In 1932 a South American team (consisting mainly of Argentine based players) toured England. It played seven first class matches and twelve other fixtures [11].
A two match series against Chile in December 1938 was won by Argentina [12], the second match of which saw the interesting occurrence of Argentina's Alfred Jackson playing against his brother John Jackson [13].
Leading players during this period were the Ayling brothers, K Bush (who also played for Brazil), D Cavanagh, Herbert Dorning (the so called "Grand Old Man of Argentine Cricket") and Donald Forrester [5].
A strong club scene existed until the 1950s with Belgrano, BACA, Lomas and Hurlingham. This resulted in a relatively strong national side. Railway and Bank teams disbanded after the war along with the formerly strong San Isidro side. The national side sank to a low level, being heavily beaten by MCC in 1958-59 [14].
By 2010, cricket had made some positive strides in Argentina even if the national side was struggling somewhat.
San Jorges, Lomas, Belgrano, Hurlingham and San Albano were as strong as they had been for some time along with Buenos Aires Cricket and Rugby Club, which was once again fielding sides after a long absence. Bedes Grammar School and Club Atletico Rosario were both working their way through the lower divisions of the domestic league and supplying many players to the national age group squads, while an Academy side had been introduced into the First Division in response to the growing number of young players from the Italian/Spanish majority that were taking up the sport.
Previously the club competition had been kept alive largely by Anglo-Argentines - many of whom were descendants of well known cricketing identities in the country going right back to the early 20th century. In all, more than 30 teams at senior level comprised from the eight clubs were competing in four divisions and there was also a quickly growing ladies league.
Argentina participated in the first ICC Trophy in 1979 [15] but missed the second in 1982 which was played in England and started only two days after the conclusion of Falklands War [16]. They returned for the 1986 ICC Trophy [17] and played in every one following that until the 2001 event. They did not qualify for the 2005 tournament [18].
Argentina hosted and won the first South American Championship in 1995 [19] and still play in the tournament today, though they now send an "A" team [20]. They also participated in the first ICC Americas Championship in 2000, finishing 5th [21]. MCC visited again in March 2001, winning both matches [22].
Argentina hosted the Americas Championship in 2002, finishing sixth [23]. MCC toured again in 2004, drawing the series 1-1 [24]. Later that year, Argentina finished 5th in the Americas Championship [25].
In 2006, the Americas Championship was split into two divisions and Argentina were placed in Division Two. They won the Division Two tournament and were promoted to Division One in Canada that August [26], where they finished 5th [27].
In 2008 they finished 5th with only one victory coming against newcomers Suriname. The inclusion of coach Hamish Barton in the team proved successfully specially when he scored 99 not out against Canada. Argentina enden being beaten in a nail-bitting finish by 1 wicket.
This originally qualified them for Division Five of the World Cricket League, but they were placed in Division Three following the suspension of the USA from international cricket [28]. They finished as runners-up to Uganda in the tournament and qualified for Division Two in Windhoek, Namibia.
Following their promotion, in November 2007, Argentina traveled to Namibia to take part in Division Two of the ICC World Cricket League. They played Denmark, the hosts, Oman and the UAE in addition to the other qualifier from Division Three; Uganda. Division Two proved to be a step too far for Argentina, as they lost all their group matches and then lost to Uganda in a positional playoff and finished sixth. On the basis of their sixth place finish in this tournament, Argentina were relegated back to Division Three, for the 2009 tournament which Argentina hosted from January 24 to 31 2009. However, Argentina again struggled, losing all five of their games to finish bottom of the table and relegated to the Division Four. In Division 4 their downfall continued and lost all the games thus relegated to Division Five. Argentina have lost considerable form over time and with present ways they may go down the WCL structure.
In February 2012, Argentina will take part in Division Five of the World Cricket League in Singapore.
Argentina will also take part in Division One of the ICC Americas Championship in 2012.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||