Israeli cricket team
Encyclopedia
The Israel national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Israel
in international cricket
matches. Despite being geographically part of the Middle East
, they are members of the European Cricket Council
.
They regularly take part in the European Championship
, and are currently ranked as the 12th best non-test team in Europe
by the International Cricket Council
, having been an associate member of that organisation since 1974.
, United Kingdom
, and the Indian Subcontinent
.
The first national league was formed in 1966, which led to the formation of the Israel Cricket Association (ICA)
in 1968. The league prospered despite conditions ill-suited to cricket. Games were played on dusty, grass-less football fields, on matting wickets. However, the enthusiasm of the players has overcome these drawbacks.
in 1974, with only Pakistan
opposing their membership. Israel competed in the first ICC Trophy
in 1979
, failing to get past the first round. They also failed to progress beyond the first round in the 1982 tournament
and 1986 tournament
They reached the plate competition of the ICC Trophy in 1990
and 1994
and in 1996 competed in the first European Championship in Denmark
, finishing eighth in the eight team tournament. The 1997 ICC Trophy
in Malaysia gave them a brief, though unwanted, moment in the spotlight. Malaysia does not recognise the state of Israel, and they faced political demonstrations throughout the tournament from the Islamic Party of Malaysia
. They were the first Israeli sports team to play in the country and finished in 21st place.
In 1998, they finished ninth in the European Championship ahead of only Gibraltar and the following year travelled to Gibraltar
to take part in a quadrangular tournament also involving France and Italy, losing to France in the third place play-off.
was cancelled and their remaining two group games were met by protests. Their play-off games were then moved to RAF Lossiemouth
to be played under armed guard. The second of these games, against Greece was forfeited by the Greeks, who had travel problems. Israel thus finished in seventh place.
In November 2007, Israel were defeated in a relegation match against Croatia, in the first international cricket game played in Israel. The loss meant that they were relegated from the 2nd European division, to the 3rd Division. In 2009 they got promoted to Second division with a win over Croatia.
ICC Trophy
European Championship
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in international cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
matches. Despite being geographically part of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, they are members of the European Cricket Council
European Cricket Council
The European Cricket Council is an international body which oversees cricket in European countries other than the Test-playing cricketing nation of England and Wales.-Activities:...
.
They regularly take part in the European Championship
European Cricket Championship
The European Cricket Championship is a group of various tournaments in which national cricket sides throughout Europe compete. The tournament is designed to encourage and develop the best players in countries where cricket is not a major sport and Europe's only Test cricket playing country,...
, and are currently ranked as the 12th best non-test team in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
by the International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
, having been an associate member of that organisation since 1974.
Beginnings
As is most often the case, cricket was introduced to Israel by the British. Local enthusiasts managed to keep the game going once the British had left in 1948, but the game was struggling until the mid 1960s, when an influx of Jewish immigrants from cricket playing countries revived the game, mainly South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and the Indian Subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
.
The first national league was formed in 1966, which led to the formation of the Israel Cricket Association (ICA)
Israel Cricket Association
Israel Cricket Association is the official governing body of the sport of cricket in Israel. Israel Cricket Association is Israel's representative at the International Cricket Council and is an associate member and has been a member of that body since 1974. Its principal object is to incorporate...
in 1968. The league prospered despite conditions ill-suited to cricket. Games were played on dusty, grass-less football fields, on matting wickets. However, the enthusiasm of the players has overcome these drawbacks.
ICC Membership
Israel became an associate member of the ICCInternational Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
in 1974, with only Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
opposing their membership. Israel competed in the first ICC Trophy
ICC Trophy
The ICC World Cup Qualifier is an international one-day cricket tournament run under the auspices of the International Cricket Council. Any Associate or Affiliate member of the ICC may attempt to qualify for the ICC Trophy by means of a system of regional qualifying events. The test-playing Full...
in 1979
1979 ICC Trophy
Canada proved too strong for Malaysia, Rasiah Ratnalingham's excellent analysis of 12-5-18-3 not enough to stop the Canadians winning by 44 runs thanks to 77 from Cecil Marshall and 4-33 from John Vaughan...
, failing to get past the first round. They also failed to progress beyond the first round in the 1982 tournament
1982 ICC Trophy
The 1982 ICC Trophy was a limited-overs cricket tournament held in England between 16 June and 10 July 1982. It was the second ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, with matches between the 16 participating teams played over 60 overs a side and with white clothing and red balls...
and 1986 tournament
1986 ICC Trophy
The 1986 ICC Trophy was a limited-overs cricket tournament held in England between 11 June and 7 July 1986. It was the third ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, and as with the previous two tournaments, games between the 16 participating teams played over 60 overs a side and with white clothing and...
They reached the plate competition of the ICC Trophy in 1990
1990 ICC Trophy
The 1990 ICC Trophy was a limited-overs cricket tournament held in the Netherlands between 4 June and 23 June 1990. It was the fourth ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, and the first to be held outside England. It was also the first ICC Trophy competition to have a title sponsor, being known...
and 1994
1994 ICC Trophy
The ABN-AMRO 1994 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament that took place in Kenya in February/March 1994. It was the qualifying tournament for the 1996 Cricket World Cup. The UAE defeated the host nation Kenya in the final and the Netherlands finished 3rd with all 3 sides qualifing for their first...
and in 1996 competed in the first European Championship in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, finishing eighth in the eight team tournament. The 1997 ICC Trophy
1997 ICC Trophy
The Carlsberg 1997 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March/April 1997. It was the qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Kenya and for the first time Bangladesh and Scotland all Qualified.-First round:...
in Malaysia gave them a brief, though unwanted, moment in the spotlight. Malaysia does not recognise the state of Israel, and they faced political demonstrations throughout the tournament from the Islamic Party of Malaysia
PAS (political party)
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party commonly known as PAS or Pas, is an Islamist political party in Malaysia and is currently headed by Dato' Seri Abdul Hadi Awang...
. They were the first Israeli sports team to play in the country and finished in 21st place.
In 1998, they finished ninth in the European Championship ahead of only Gibraltar and the following year travelled to Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
to take part in a quadrangular tournament also involving France and Italy, losing to France in the third place play-off.
21st Century
Israel have been playing in Division Two of the European Championships since 2000, finishing fifth in 2000,, fourth in 2002 and sixth in 2004. In the 2006 tournament, the Israeli team were again met with protests, due to the then ongoing crisis in the Middle East. Their first match, against JerseyJersey cricket team
The Jersey cricket team is the team that represents the Crown dependency of Jersey in international cricket matches. They became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2005, and an associate member in 2007....
was cancelled and their remaining two group games were met by protests. Their play-off games were then moved to RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Lossiemouth is a Royal Air Force station to the west of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland. It is one of the RAF's biggest bases and is currently Britain's main base for Tornado GR4s. From 2013 the Northern QRA force of Typhoon F2 will relocate to Lossiemouth following the closure of...
to be played under armed guard. The second of these games, against Greece was forfeited by the Greeks, who had travel problems. Israel thus finished in seventh place.
In November 2007, Israel were defeated in a relegation match against Croatia, in the first international cricket game played in Israel. The loss meant that they were relegated from the 2nd European division, to the 3rd Division. In 2009 they got promoted to Second division with a win over Croatia.
ICC TrophyICC TrophyThe ICC World Cup Qualifier is an international one-day cricket tournament run under the auspices of the International Cricket Council. Any Associate or Affiliate member of the ICC may attempt to qualify for the ICC Trophy by means of a system of regional qualifying events. The test-playing Full...
- 19791979 ICC TrophyCanada proved too strong for Malaysia, Rasiah Ratnalingham's excellent analysis of 12-5-18-3 not enough to stop the Canadians winning by 44 runs thanks to 77 from Cecil Marshall and 4-33 from John Vaughan...
: First round - 19821982 ICC TrophyThe 1982 ICC Trophy was a limited-overs cricket tournament held in England between 16 June and 10 July 1982. It was the second ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, with matches between the 16 participating teams played over 60 overs a side and with white clothing and red balls...
: First round - 19861986 ICC TrophyThe 1986 ICC Trophy was a limited-overs cricket tournament held in England between 11 June and 7 July 1986. It was the third ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, and as with the previous two tournaments, games between the 16 participating teams played over 60 overs a side and with white clothing and...
: First round - 19901990 ICC TrophyThe 1990 ICC Trophy was a limited-overs cricket tournament held in the Netherlands between 4 June and 23 June 1990. It was the fourth ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, and the first to be held outside England. It was also the first ICC Trophy competition to have a title sponsor, being known...
: Plate competition - 19941994 ICC TrophyThe ABN-AMRO 1994 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament that took place in Kenya in February/March 1994. It was the qualifying tournament for the 1996 Cricket World Cup. The UAE defeated the host nation Kenya in the final and the Netherlands finished 3rd with all 3 sides qualifing for their first...
: Plate competition - 19971997 ICC TrophyThe Carlsberg 1997 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March/April 1997. It was the qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Kenya and for the first time Bangladesh and Scotland all Qualified.-First round:...
: 21st place - 20012001 ICC TrophyThe 2001 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Ontario, Canada in 2001. It was the qualifying tournament for the 2003 Cricket World Cup...
: First round - 20052005 ICC TrophyIreland beat Bermuda easily as Ed Joyce made 103 for the hosts in Stormont.----Denmark beat Uganda by 28 runs as Thomas Munkholt Hansen took 6 for 30 to carry Denmark to a 28-run win over Uganda in Muckamore. Denmark made 197 with Henrik Saxe Hansen making 71...
: Did not qualify
European ChampionshipEuropean Cricket ChampionshipThe European Cricket Championship is a group of various tournaments in which national cricket sides throughout Europe compete. The tournament is designed to encourage and develop the best players in countries where cricket is not a major sport and Europe's only Test cricket playing country,...
- 1996: 8th place
- 1998: 9th place
- 2000: 5th place (Division Two)
- 2002: 4th place (Division Two)
- 2004: 6th place (Division Two)
- 2006: 7th place (Division Two)
- 2009: 1st place (Division Three)
- 2010: 5th place (Division Two)
Squad
- The following list contains the 15 players in Israel's squad for the European Cricket Championship Division 3:
- Herschel Gutman (CaptainCaptain (cricket)The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
) - Shailesh Bangera
- Safania Nagavkar
- Gabi Schachat
- Nir Dokarkar
- Eliezer Samson
- Isaac Talkar
- Eshkol Solomon
- Yaniv Razpurker
- Dovi Myers
- Adrian Vard
- Raymond Aston
- David Massil
- Steven Shein
- Benjamin Shapiro