| Belgium | |
| Belgium | |
| ICC membership granted | 1991 |
| ICC member status | Associate Member |
| ICC development region | Europe |
| World Cricket League division | N/A |
| Captain | Richard Nash |
| Coach | Fazil Mahmoud |
| First recorded match | 1905 v The Netherlands |
| As of 2 September 2009 | |
The Belgium national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Belgium in international cricket matches. They have been an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 2005 after previously being an affiliate member since 1991.[1] They currently play in Division Three of the European Cricket Championship.[2]
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The first game of modern cricket in Belgium appears to have been a match played by British soldiers before the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, though research has suggested that cricket may be related to a game exported from Flanders to England in the Sixteenth Century.[3] The first record of organised cricket is a painting dated 1870 that hangs in the pavilion of Lord's Cricket Ground in London that depicts the opening of the Brussels cricket ground in 1866 by mayor Jules Anspach.[4]
The national team first played a match in 1905 when they played against the Netherlands. The match was played almost every year until 1986.[4] Belgium hosted a tournament as part of the 1910 Brussels Exhibition also involving France, the MCC and the Netherlands.[5] Belgium lost their match against the MCC by an innings[6] and lost to the Netherlands by 116 runs.[7]
Belgium became an affiliate member of the ICC in 1991.[1] They began to play in European tournaments, playing in the ECC Trophy for the first time in 1999 when they finished last.[8] They fared better in the next tournament, reaching the semi finals of the 2001 ECC Trophy in Austria.[9]
They finished sixth in the ECC Trophy in 2003,[10] and gained associate membership of the ICC two years later.[1] Belgium finished fourth in the European Affiliates Championship in 2005 [11] and both played and hosted Division Three of the newly restructured European Championship in August 2007, they finished fifth [2].
In 2009 Belgium played in La Manga, again in Division 3. Richard Nash captained the team and finished fourth. In 2011 Belgium hosted the new 2011 ICC European T20 Championship Division Two where they won the championship undefeated[12]. The captain for the T20 squad was André Wagener.
One-Day
T20
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