# Samoa national cricket team

The Samoan national cricket team is the men's team that represents Samoa in international cricket. They became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2000. They competed in the Pacifica Championship in 2001 and 2002, hosting the tournament on the second occasion. They came 6th in 2001, and 5th in 2002. In 2005, they competed in the East Asia/Pacific Cup, finishing in last place, thus missing out on qualification for the 2011 World Cup. Since 2017, they have been an ICC associate member.

## History

In February 1966, Prime Minister Fiamē Mataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II banned cricket from being played except on Wednesdays and Saturdays, stating it was distracting Samoans from cleaning up after a cyclone. A cricket match in Samoa in October 1977 ended in a fight in which two players were stabbed to death. According to the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, "the row started after a player was bowled out and angrily hit the wicket with his bat".

### 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 Samoa and other ICC members since 1 January 2019 have the full T20I status.
Samoa played their first T20I against Papua New Guinea during the 2019 Pacific Games, losing the rain-affected match by 9 wickets.
* 8 July 2019 09:30 Scorecard
| Samoa 83/5 (15 overs) | v | Papua New Guinea 29/1 (3.1 overs) |
| Sean Cotter 25 (22) Chad Soper 2/15 (4 overs) | | Tony Ura 14 (12) Lester Evile 1/0 (1 over) |
* Papua New Guinea won by 9 wickets (DLS method) Faleata Oval 1, Apia Umpires: Mac Markia (Van) and Mervyn McGoon (Fij)
* Papua New Guinea won the toss and elected to field.
* Papua New Guinea were set a revised target of 24 runs from 5 overs due to rain.
* First ever T20I match for Samoa with Twenty20 International status.

## Tournaments
### 2011 East Asia-Pacific Division Two

Samoa hosted the East Asia-Pacific Division Two tournament from 4 to 7 April 2011. The tournament was part of a qualifying pyramid for the 2012 twenty-20 cricket world cup in Sri Lanka. The competing teams were as follows:
* Samoa
* Cook Islands
* Indonesia
* Philippines
* South Korea
* Tonga
Samoa won the event, thus qualifying for the 2011 East Asia-Pacific Division 1.

### 2011 East Asia-Pacific Division 1

The East Asia-Pacific Division 1 was held in Papua New Guinea from 4 to 7 July 2011. Samoa finished 4th out of the 5 teams with 2 wins, upsetting Fiji in the opening game and beating Japan in the final round-robin game. They then lost their semi-final against PNG by 141 runs, then they beat Fiji for the second time in the tournament in the 3rd Place Play-off. The competing teams were:
* Fiji
* Japan
* Papua New Guinea
* Samoa
* Vanuatu

### 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight

The men's team qualified for the World Cricket League following good performances in the Oceania regional competitions. They hosted the 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight in September 2012 after they were approved as hosts by the ICC.

## Tournament history
### ICC T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier

* 2005: 6th
* 2006: DNQ
* 2007: 4th
* 2009: 2nd
* 2009 ICC EAP Cricket Trophy (Twenty20)
* 2011 ICC EAP Cricket Trophy (One day)
* 2011: 1st
* 2018-19: 3rd place

### Pacific Games

* 2003: 4th place
* 2007: Bronze medal
* 2019: Bronze medal

## Records and statistics

International Match Summary — Samoa
Last updated 24 August 2024
Playing Record :
| Format | M | W | L | T | NR | Inaugural Match |
| Twenty20 Internationals | 19 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 8 July 2019 |

### Twenty20 International

* Highest team total: 183/5 v Fiji, on 21 August 2024 at Feleata Oval 2, Apia.
* Highest individual score: 132, Darius Visser v Vanuatu, on 20 August 2024 at Feleata Oval 2, Apia.
* Best bowling figures in an innings: 4/11, Darius Visser v Fiji, on 17 August 2024 at Feleata Oval 2, Apia.
T20I record versus other nations
Records complete to T20I #2799. Last updated 24 August 2024.
| Opponent | M | W | L | T | NR | First match | First win |
| vs Associate Members ||||||||
| Cook Islands | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 September 2022 | 9 September 2022 |
| Fiji | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 September 2022 | 17 August 2024 |
| Papua New Guinea | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 July 2019 | |
| Vanuatu | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 July 2019 | 9 July 2019 |

### Other records

For a list of selected international matches played by Samoa, see Cricket Archive.

## Notable players

* James Baker
* Benjamin Mailata
* Dom Michael
* Faasao Mulivai
* Sean Solia
* Ofisa Tonu'u