# Denmark national cricket team

The Denmark national cricket team represents Denmark in international cricket. They have been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1966, and have previously been a part of the ICC's High Performance Programme.
Denmark played in the inaugural edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League, starting in August 2019, as a result of finishing in Division Three of the now defunct World Cricket League.

## History
### Beginnings

Cricket has been played in Denmark since the mid-19th century, with the first club being formed in 1865 by English railway engineers. The first organised match was played the following year between two teams of English players, with the first matches involving Danish players taking place in 1866. The game expanded greatly over the following twenty years, with 30 new clubs being formed in 1883.
Several touring sides from England and Scotland visited the country in the early part of the 20th century, including the famous Marylebone Cricket Club. In 1933, an attempt to organise the first international match against the Netherlands failed, and the Danish national side did not play their first match until 1954, against Oxford University, the year after the current Danish Cricket Federation was formed.
They then began to play against other national sides, primarily the Netherlands, who they first played in 1955. They played their first match against Scotland in 1961.

### ICC membership

Denmark became an associate member of the ICC in 1966, drawing their international against Scotland that year. They played Bermuda for the first time in 1969 and drew their first match against Ireland in 1970. They finally picked up their first international win against the Netherlands in 1972.
They played their first matches against Canada in 1974, losing a three-day match but winning the limited overs match. They played home internationals against East Africa and Sri Lanka, beating East Africa. They toured East Africa the following year, drawing with both East Africa and Kenya.
They took part in the first ICC Trophy in 1979, reaching the semi-final where they lost to Sri Lanka. They did not take part in the 1982 tournament. In 1983, Ole Mortensen became the first Danish player to play county cricket. Denmark returned to the ICC Trophy in 1986 and finished third after beating Bermuda in the third place play-off.
In 1989, Denmark hosted Australia for two one-day matches. They lost the first match in Brøndby by 45 runs and lost the second in Copenhagen by 54 runs. They fared better at home against Canada that year, winning twice against them. After playing both home and away against Bangladesh in 1990, they played in the ICC Trophy, reaching the second round.
Denmark again played in the ICC Trophy in 1994, finishing tenth in the tournament after losing to Namibia in the plate final. They played their first matches against France in 1995, and hosted the first European Cricket Championship in 1996, finishing third. They finished fifth in the following years ICC Trophy and were runners up in the European Championship in 1998.
In 1999, Denmark took part in the NatWest Trophy for the first time. The following year, they took part in the ICC Emerging Nations Tournament in Zimbabwe, where they finished fourth, and the European Championship, where they finished last, without winning a game. The following year, they took part in the ICC Trophy in Canada, finishing eighth. The MCC toured Denmark in 2002, and Denmark won all three matches. They won just one match at that year's European Championship, finishing fifth ahead of Italy.

### 2000-2017

The Netherlands visited Denmark in 2003, winning both matches. Denmark played a two match series against Ireland later in the year, losing both matches and missing out on qualification for the ICC Intercontinental Cup. They again finished last in the European Championship the following year. In 2005, they played their final match in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, losing heavily to Northamptonshire at Svanholm Park before taking part in the 2005 ICC Trophy, where they again finished eighth.
In 2006, Denmark again took part in the European Championship, finishing fourth after winning only against Italy. At the end of that year, it was announced that they would join the ICC's High Performance Programme from 1 April 2007.
In August 2007, Denmark registered a win over Bermuda, an ODI playing country, and towards the end of October 2007 they played in Kenya against domestic teams and Kenya A. Denmark, led by Freddie Klokker who scored consecutive centuries in all their matches, clean swept the Kenyan sides and Kenya A. Denmark bowled, batted and fielded exceptionally well.
In November 2007, Denmark took part in Division Two of the World Cricket League. In finishing fourth, they qualified to compete in the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier. However, they eventually came last of the twelve teams, meaning they were relegated to Division Three of the World Cricket League. They next competed in the 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where they came 5th to be relegated to the Division Four.
In November 2013, they competed in the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE where they finished in last place, failing to win a game.

### 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 Denmark and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I.
In September 2018, Denmark qualified from Group A of the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Europe Qualifier to the Regional Finals of the tournament.
Denmark played their first T20I match against Jersey on 16 June 2019.
* 16 June 2019 10:45 Scorecard
| Jersey 131/9 (20 overs) | v | Denmark 113/8 (20 overs) |
| Jonty Jenner 36 (27) Hamid Shah 4/23 (4 overs) | | Abdul Hashmi 29 (29) Elliot Miles 3/10 (3 overs) |
* Jersey won by 18 runs King George V Sports Ground, Castel Umpires: Rizwan Akram (Ned) and Allan Haggo (Sco)
* Denmark won the toss and elected to field.
* First ever T20I match for Denmark.
Since April 2019, Denmark has played in the 2019–2022 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.

## Tournament history
### ICC World Cup Qualifier

* 1979: Semi-finals
* 1982: Did not participate
* 1986: 3rd place
* 1990: Second round
* 1994: 10th place
* 1997: 5th place
* 2001: 8th place
* 2005: 8th place
* 2009: 12th place
* 2014: did not qualify
* 2018: did not qualify

### ICC World T20 Qualifier

* 2008–2010: did not qualify
* 2012: 16th place
* 2013: 16th place
* 2023 (Europe Regional Final): 6th place

### World Cricket League

* 2007: 4th place (Division Two)
* 2011: 5th place (Division Three) – relegated
* 2012: 4th place (Division Four)
* 2014: 3rd place (Division Four)
* 2016: 3rd place (Division Four)
* 2018: 2nd place (Division Four) – promoted
* 2018: 5th place (Division Three)

### ICC 6 Nations Challenge

* 2000: 4th place
* 2002: Did not participate
* 2004: Did not participate

### European Cricket Championship

* 1996: 3rd place
* 1998: Runners up
* 2000: 6th place (Division One)
* 2002: 5th place (Division One)
* 2004: 5th place (Division One)
* 2006: 4th place (Division One)
* 2008: 3rd place (Division One)

## Players
### Current squad

This lists all the active players who have played for the Denmark in the past 12 months or selected in the team's most recent T20 squad. Uncapped players are listed in italics.
| Name | Age | Batting style | Bowling style | Last T20I | Notes |
| Batsmen ||||||
| Shangeev Thanikaithasan | 26 | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2024 | |
| Hamid Shah | 32 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2024 | Captain |
| All-rounders ||||||
| Nicolaj Laegsgaard | 28 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2024 | |
| Saif Ahmad | 26 | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2024 | |
| Surya Anand | 26 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2024 | |
| Lucky Ali | 21 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2023 | |
| Delawar Khan | 27 | Left-handed | Left-arm medium | 2024 | |
| Saran Aslam | 33 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2024 | |
| Wicket-keepers ||||||
| Taranjit Bharaj | 31 | Right-handed | | 2024 | |
| Abdul Hashmi | 27 | Right-handed | | 2024 | |
| Torr Turner | 19 | Right-handed | | — | |
| Spin bowlers ||||||
| Abdullah Mahmood | 22 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2024 | |
| Eshan Karimi | 19 | Right-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | 2024 | |
| Pace bowlers ||||||
| Oliver Hald | 25 | Left-handed | Left-arm medium | 2024 | |
| Saud Munir | 26 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2023 | |
| Toqeer Ahmad | 37 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2024 | |
| Shakeel Zeb | 22 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | — | |
Updated as on 28 Aug 2024

### Other players

    See List of Denmark List A cricketers and Category:Danish cricketers
The following Danish players have played first-class or List A cricket for teams other than Denmark:
* Amjad Khan
* Thomas Hansen
* Soren Henriksen
* Frederik Klokker
* Johan Malcolm
* Ole Mortensen

## Records

International Match Summary — Denmark
Last updated 28 August 2024
Playing Record :
| Format | M | W | L | T | NR | Inaugural Match |
| Twenty20 Internationals | 42 | 19 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 16 June 2019 |

### Twenty20 International

* Highest team total: 256/5 v. Gibraltar on 29 June 2022 at Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Waterloo.
* Highest individual score: 100, Hamid Shah v. Czech Republic on 21 August 2024 at King George V Sports Ground, Castel.
* Best individual bowling figures: 5/21, Saud Munir v. Norway on 18 May 2023 at Svanholm Park, Brøndby.
| Player | Runs | Average | Career span |
| Hamid Shah | 1,026 | 34.20 | 2019–2024 |
| Taranjit Bharaj | 674 | 23.24 | 2019–2024 |
| Saif Ahmad | 574 | 22.96 | 2019–2024 |
| Nicolaj Laegsgaard | 533 | 23.17 | 2019–2024 |
| Surya Anand | 354 | 25.28 | 2021–2024 |
| Player | Wickets | Average | Career span |
| Nicolaj Laegsgaard | 33 | 14.72 | 2019–2024 |
| Saif Ahmad | 27 | 17.55 | 2019–2024 |
| Oliver Hald | 26 | 17.76 | 2019–2024 |
| Hamid Shah | 22 | 12.50 | 2019–2024 |
| Saud Munir | 20 | 14.35 | 2022–2023 |
T20I record versus other nations
Records complete to T20I #2825. Last updated 28 August 2024.
| Opponent | M | W | L | T | NR | First match | First win |
| vs Full Members ||||||||
| Ireland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 July 2023 | |
| vs Associate Members ||||||||
| Austria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 July 2023 | 24 July 2023 |
| Belgium | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 July 2022 | |
| Cyprus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 August 2024 | 27 August 2024 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 August 2024 | 21 August 2024 |
| Finland | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 July 2019 | 13 July 2019 |
| Germany | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 19 June 2019 | |
| Gibraltar | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 June 2022 | 29 June 2022 |
| Greece | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 August 2024 | 22 August 2024 |
| Guernsey | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 18 June 2019 | |
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 June 2022 | 28 June 2022 |
| Italy | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 18 June 2019 | 20 June 2019 |
| Jersey | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16 June 2019 | |
| Norway | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 June 2019 | 17 June 2019 |
| Portugal | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 July 2022 | 4 July 2022 |
| Spain | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 July 2022 | 2 July 2022 |
| Scotland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 July 2023 | |
| Sweden | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 August 2021 | 14 August 2021 |