France
AssociationFrance Cricket
Personnel
CoachNetherlands Tim de Leede
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member with T20I status (1998)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[1] Best-ever
T20I 52nd 39th (6 Aug 2021)
International cricket
First internationalFrance France v. Great Britain United Kingdom
(Paris; 19 August 1900)
One Day Internationals
World Cup Qualifier appearances1 (first in 2001)
Best resultFirst round, 2001
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Norway at Bayer Uerdingen Cricket Ground, Krefeld; 5 August 2021
Last T20Iv  Malta at Marsa Sports Club, Marsa; 16 July 2023
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[2] 18 9/9 (0 ties, 0 no results)
This year[3] 0 0/0 (0 ties, 0 no results)

T20I kit

As of 1 January 2024

The France national cricket team is the men's team that represents the country of France in international cricket. They became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1998, having previously been an affiliate member since 1987.[4] The country is best known for winning the silver medal in the cricket event at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, the only time cricket has been held at the Olympics. France now plays most of its matches in European Cricket Council (ECC) tournaments, although the team also appeared at the 2001 ICC Trophy.

In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between France and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 have the full T20I status.[5]

History

Early years

One of the many theories about the origin of cricket is that France could be a possible birthplace of the game. A mention of a bat and ball game called "criquet" in a village of the Pas-de-Calais occurs in a French manuscript of 1478,[6] and the word "criquet" is an old French word meaning "post" or "wicket".[7] However, it is equally possible that this could be an early variant of croquet.

Horace Walpole, son of former British Prime Minister Robert Walpole mentioned seeing cricket in Paris in 1766.[7]

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) were due to make the first ever international cricket tour of France, in 1789, however this was cancelled due to the French Revolution. This match was finally played in 1989, as part of the bicentennial celebrations of the revolution, with France beating the MCC by 7 wickets.[8]

The first documented match took place in the Bois de Boulogne between Paris Cricket Club and Nottingham Amateurs in 1864.[9] Paris Cricket Club published a book explaining the game the following year.[7]

Olympic Games

Poster for the 1900 Summer Olympics cricket match

The one and only appearance for cricket at the Olympic Games took place in 1900, with the French team losing the only match played, and thus remaining the reigning silver medal holders to this day. The French team however, consisted solely of British residents in Paris, members of the Standard Athletic Club.[10] The match was twelve-a-side and the following players represented France:

19–20 August 1900
Scorecard
v
Great Britain won by 158 runs
Exhibition Ground, Vélodrome de Vincennes
Umpires: Delorme (Fra) and Wilian (Fra)
  • no toss
  • First ever International match for France.

The Standard Athletic Club restaged the 1900 Olympic Cricket match in 1987, and France played the MCC in Meudon in 1989.

In 1910, France took part in an exhibition tournament in Brussels, also involving the MCC, the Netherlands and Belgium. They played one game, against the Netherlands, winning by 63 runs.[11]

The modern era

Many cricket clubs folded after the Second World War, but an influx of English and Asian immigrants led to a resurgence of the game in the early 1980s.[7] The current French Cricket Association was formed in 1987, and they gained Affiliate membership of the ICC the same year.[4]

After the win in the 1989 match mentioned above, there were a handful of tours from English county teams, and France toured Austria in 1996, losing both matches against the national team.[12] In 1997, they played in the European Nations Cup in Zuoz, Switzerland,[13] winning after beating Germany by one run in the final.[14] This match was included in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack list of 100 best matches of the 20th century as David Bordes ran the winning leg bye with a fractured skull.[15]

They played in the European Championship in the Netherlands in 1998, finishing eighth after losing to Germany in a play-off.[16] They became an associate member of the ICC the same year.[4] They finished third in Division Two of the 2000 European Championship.[17]

France played their only ICC Trophy in the 2001 tournament in Canada, though they did not progress beyond the first round.[18] The following year, they finished fifth in Division Two of the European Championships,[19] and finished as runners up in the 2004 tournament.[20] They finished sixth in the 2006 tournament after losing a play-off to Guernsey.[21]

In 2008, France finished fourth in Division 2 of the European Championship. In 2010, France finished third in the same competition, narrowly missing out on qualification for the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight. In 2011, they finished sixth in the ICC Europe Division 1 T20 Championship after losing the fifth place play-off match to Norway. In 2012, they finished second in the ICC European World Cricket League 8 Qualifier, held in La Manga, Spain; again missing out on qualification for Division 8 of the World Cricket League.

In 2018, France competed at the ICC World Twenty20 Europe Region Qualifier in Netherlands.[22]

In 2021, France played their first ever T20 international match against Norway in a tri-nation series in Germany, winning the match by 4 wickets.

5 August 2021
15:30
Scorecard
Norway 
112/7 (20 overs)
v
 France
113/6 (19.3 overs)
Waqas Ahmed 32* (36)
Dawood Ahmadzai 2/10 (4 overs)
Suventhiran Santhirakumaran 34 (39)
Raza Iqbal 2/13 (4 overs)
France won by 4 wickets
Bayer Uerdingen Cricket Ground, Krefeld
Umpires: Jason Flannery (Ger) and Vinay Malhotra (Ger)
Player of the match: Suventhiran Santhirakumaran (Fra)
  • France won the toss and elected to field.
  • First ever T20I match for France.

Grounds

France national cricket team is located in France
Cricket Ground, Parc du Grand Blottereau
Cricket Ground, Parc du Grand Blottereau
Locations of all stadiums which have hosted international cricket matches within France

Tournament History

Summer Olympics

ICC Trophy

European Championship

  • 1991: 8th place[16]
  • 1993: 1st place (Division Two)[17]
  • 1998: 3rd place (Division Two)[19]
  • 2002: 2nd place (Division Two)[20]
  • 2006: 6th place (Division Two)[21]
  • 2008: 4th place (Division Two)
  • 2010: 3rd place (Division Two)
  • 2011: 6th place (Division One, T20)
  • 2013: 5th place (Division One, T20)

Mdina Cup

Records and Statistics

International match summary — France[24]

Last updated 16 July 2023

Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals1899005 August 2021

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations[24]

Records complete to T20I #2143. Last updated 16 July 2023.

OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Czech Republic1100024 July 202224 July 2022
 Estonia1100030 July 202230 July 2022
 Germany202006 August 2021
 Guernsey1010031 July 2022
 Luxembourg3210011 July 202311 July 2023
 Malta4220010 July 202310 July 2023
 Norway321005 August 20215 August 2021
 Romania1100013 July 202313 July 2023
  Switzerland2020025 July 2022

Notable players

The following French national team players have played first-class or List A cricket:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  2. ↑ "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  3. ↑ "T20I matches - 2024 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 France at CricketArchive
  5. ↑ "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "France". Cricket Europe. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "A brief history of cricket in France". cricketeurope.net. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  8. ↑ Scorecard of France v MCC, 24 September 1989 at Cricket Archive
  9. ↑ London Evening Standard 18 May 1864
  10. ↑ "The ignorant Olympians". cricinfo.com. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  11. ↑ Scorecard of France v Netherlands, 26 June 1910 at Cricinfo
  12. ↑ France in Austria, 1996 at Cricket Archive
  13. ↑ 1997 European Nations Cup at Cricket Archive
  14. ↑ Scorecard of France v Germany, 23 August 1997 at Cricket Archive
  15. ↑ A hundred matches of the century, 2000 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
  16. 1 2 1998 European Championship Archived 9 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  17. 1 2 2000 European Championship Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  18. 1 2 2001 ICC Trophy Archived 8 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  19. 1 2 Tables and results for the 2002 European Championship Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the tournament's official site
  20. 1 2 2004 European Championships Division Two Archived 1 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine at the European Cricket Council website
  21. 1 2 2006 European Championship Division Two Archived 17 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  22. ↑ "ICC World Twenty20 Europe Region Qualifier A Table - 2018 - ESPN". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  23. ↑ 2005 ICC Trophy at Cricket Archive
  24. 1 2 "Records / France / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  25. ↑ "Records / France / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  26. ↑ "Records / France / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
  27. ↑ "Records / France / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  28. ↑ Waseem Bhatti at Cricket Archive
  29. ↑ Simon Hewitt at Cricket Archive
  30. ↑ David Holt at Cricket Archive
  31. ↑ Paul Wakefield at Cricket Archive
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