# Norway national cricket team

The Norway national cricket team is the team that represents Norway in international cricket matches. The Norwegian Cricket Board became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2000, and the national side played its first international match later that year. Most of the side's matches have been against members of the European Cricket Council (ECC), although in more recent years Norway has fielded sides in the lower divisions of the World Cricket League (WCL). The team's current head coach is Muhammad Haroon, a former first-class player in Pakistan, who was appointed in early 2014. In 2017, they became an associate member.

## History

Norwegian cricket was first organised in the 1960s by a few Asian immigrants and has grown to the current state of 55 clubs playing in five divisions.
Norway became a member of the International Cricket Council in 2000 and played in their first international tournament – the European Representative Championships in Austria – in that same year. They won the tournament without losing a game, but did not play again until 2003, when they took part in the ECC Trophy for the first time. They won this tournament too, again without losing a game. This qualified the team for a place in Division Two of the European Championship in 2004. They finished fourth in the six-team tournament, gaining wins against Gibraltar and Israel.
In 2005 Norway won the European Affiliates Championship, the equivalent of the ECC Trophy. They once again won the tournament without losing a game, and again qualified for Division Two of the European Championship in 2006. They won the tournament, beating debutants Jersey in the final after losing to them in the group stage. This gave Norway a place in Division One for the first time in 2008 and earned them a place in Division Five of the World Cricket League.
In May 2008, Norway travelled to Jersey to take part in the Division Five tournament. Although they beat Vanuatu in Group A, it was the team's only group stage win and with four loses they failed to make the semi-finals. Norway finished ninth overall after defeating the Bahamas and then Japan in positional playoff matches. With only the top two from this tournament qualifying for Division Four in Tanzania later in the year, Norway missed out on the chance to take their 2011 World Cup dream any further.
In July 2008, Norway met the top nations of European cricket when they participated in Division One of the European Championship. The Norwegians finished sixth overall in the six-team tournament, beaten convincingly in four of their matches – against Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Scotland – whilst their match against Italy was abandoned owing to rain.
In August 2009, Norway travelled to Singapore to compete in Division Six of the World Cricket League. They won only one of five group matches and finished sixth overall after losing a positional playoff to Botswana. As a result, Norway were relegated to Division Seven.
In May 2011, Norway travelled to Botswana for Division Seven of the World Cricket League and their relatively poor performances at ICC events continued as they finished fifth overall, although they did beat Japan in a group match and then a positional playoff. Fifth place saw Norway relegated to Division Eight of the World Cricket League.
However, by the end of year 2011 a drastic change in team performance was observed in the World Cricket League, mainly due to the inclusion of a number of new, younger, and fitter players. Under the captaincy of Rakesh the team went on to win several qualifying rounds and titles in games against higher or similarly ranked teams, such as Japan. In June 2012, in the World Cricket League, the team gained the top spot in the shortest format of the game, with amazing reformations in the field. This success won Norway a spot in another ICC qualifier event, potentially securing them a place in the T20 World Cup Competition.
In 2013 the team competed in the 2013 ICC European T20 Championship Division One in England; they finished in 8th place, securing wins over Sweden and Gibraltar.
In 2014, Norway started their tour; their first game was against Old Southendian and Southchurch cricket club on 21 June. They lost this T20 match by four runs.

### 2018–present

In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Norway and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 would be a full T20I.
In September 2018, Norway qualified from Group C of the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Europe Qualifier to the Regional Finals of the tournament.
The Norwegians played their first T20I match against Italy on 15 June 2019.
* 15 June 2019 10:45 Scorecard
| Norway 151/3 (20 overs) | v | Italy 85/1 (10 overs) |
| Walid Ghauri 44* (35) Baljit Singh 2/8 (3 overs) | | Nicholas Maiolo 39* (22) Hayatullah Niazi 1/19 (2 overs) |
* Italy won by 20 runs (DLS method) College Field, Saint Peter Port Umpires: Rizwan Akram (Ned) and Mary Waldron (Ire) Player of the match: Walid Ghauri (Nor)
* Norway won the toss and elected to bat.
* Italy were set a revised target of 66 runs from 10 overs due to rain.
* First ever T20I match for Norway.

## Tournament history
### European Championship

* 1996 to 2002: Did not participate
* 2004: Division Two 4th place
* 2006: Division Two Winners
* 2008: Division One 6th place
* 2010: Division Two 5th place

### World Cricket League

* 2008: Division Five 9th place
* 2009: Division Six 6th place
* 2011: Division Seven 5th place
* 2012: Division Eight 5th place

### European Championship T20

* 2013: Division One 8th place
* 2014: Division Two 1st place

### Germany Tri-Nation Series

* 2021: Runners-up

## Current squad

The following is a list of the players included in Norway's squad for the finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier in Jersey in June 2019.
* Raza Iqbal
* Wahidullah Sahak
* Khizer Ahmed (captain)
* Vinay Ravi
* Junaid Mehmood
* Tafseer Ali
* Ahmadullah Shinwari
* Walid Ghauri
* Ansar Iqbal
* Javed Maroofkhail
* Qamar Mushtaque
* Mohammad sher Sahak
* Darshana Kuruge
* Ibrahim Rahimi
* Anil Parmer

## Records and statistics

International match summary — Norway
Last updated 14 July 2024
Playing Record :
| Format | M | W | L | T | NR | Inaugural Match |
| Twenty20 Internationals | 32 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 15 June 2019 |

### Twenty20 International

* Highest team total: 186/6 v Czech Republic, 25 July 2022 at Tikkurila Cricket Ground, Vantaa
* Highest individual score: 70* by Sher Sahak v Guernsey, 29 April 2022 at Desert Springs Cricket Ground, Almería
* Best individual bowling figures: 5/8, Muhammad Butt v Czech Republic, 25 July 2022 at Tikkurila Cricket Ground, Vantaa
| Player | Runs | Average | Career span |
| Raza Iqbal | 524 | 18.71 | 2019–2024 |
| Sher Sahak | 346 | 21.62 | 2021–2024 |
| Walid Ghauri | 341 | 28.61 | 2019–2024 |
| Kuruge Abeyrathna | 327 | 21.80 | 2021–2024 |
| Khizer Ahmed | 311 | 23.92 | 2019–2024 |
| Player | Wickets | Average | Career span |
| Raza Iqbal | 35 | 15.74 | 2019–2024 |
| Qamar Mushtaque | 22 | 14.00 | 2022–2024 |
| Vinay Ravi | 20 | 21.45 | 2022–2023 |
| Anil Parmar | 18 | 7.83 | 2024–2024 |
| Wahidullah Sahak | 17 | 18.52 | 2021–2024 |
T20I record versus other nations
Records complete to T20I #2763. Last updated 14 July 2024.
| Opponent | M | W | L | T | NR | First match | First win |
| vs Associate Members ||||||||
| Austria | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 July 2022 | |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 July 2022 | 25 July 2022 |
| Denmark | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17 June 2019 | |
| Estonia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 July 2022 | 24 July 2022 |
| Finland | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 May 2023 | 19 May 2023 |
| France | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 August 2021 | 7 August 2021 |
| Germany | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 20 June 2019 | 8 August 2021 |
| Gibraltar | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 July 2024 | 13 July 2024 |
| Guernsey | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 19 June 2019 | 29 April 2022 |
| Italy | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 June 2019 | |
| Jersey | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16 June 2019 | |
| Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 July 2024 | 9 July 2024 |
| Spain | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 30 April 2022 | |
| Sweden | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18 May 2023 | 18 May 2023 |
| Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 July 2022 | 28 July 2022 |