Swaziland national cricket team

The Swaziland national cricket team represents Swaziland, a country in Southern Africa, in the sport of cricket. The Swaziland national cricket team, which is administrated by the Swaziland Cricket Association, is an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).^[1] The team, along with Cameroon, the Falkland Islands and Peru, was promoted to affiliate status in 2007 by the ICC.^[2] Swaziland is also a member of the African Cricket Association.^[1] The Swaziland national cricket team has competed in the World Cricket League Africa Region and the ICC Africa Twenty20 Championship.

Origins

The sport of cricket was first played in Swaziland in the 1970s by white expatriates who had come to the country to work.^[3] The sport was not accepted by the locals so eventually died out before a small group decided to reintroduce cricket into Swazi society.^[3] In 2005, schools started promoting the sport.^[3] In 2007, Swaziland was accepted into the ICC as an affiliate member alongside Cameroon, the Falkland Islands and Peru.^[2] An affiliate member is the lowest possible membership and, as of October 2016, it is held by 56 countries.^[4] Affiliate members can not play Test matches.^[4]

50 over cricket

2008

Division Three

Swaziland, as a member of the African Cricket Association, competes in the World Cricket League Africa Region which is a 50 over competition for African countries that are not full member of the ICC. For the 2008 edition, they competed in division three.^[5] In the eight-team competition, Swaziland competed alongside Gambia, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Rwanda, Malawi, Ghana and a South African invitational team (South Africa's South Africa's national team are full member of the ICC).^[5] The Swazis were drawn in pool B with Gambia, Ghana and the South African invitational side.^[5] On 13 April 2008, the Swaziland national cricket team played its first international match against Ghana at Willowmoore Park in South Africa.^[6] The Swazis batted first and scored 197 runs with captain Adrisbhai Patel the top scorer with 90 runs off 135 balls.^[6] The Ghanaians chased the target inside 35 overs, having lost only three wickets.^[6] Therefore, Ghana won the match by seven wickets.^[6] The Swazis' second match was against the South African side.^[7] The South Africans won by 70 runs in a rain affected match.^[7] Swaziland's third pool match was their first ever win.^[8] They beat the Gambians by 91 runs after they bowled out the Gambians inside 44 overs for 135 runs after the Swazis' had set a target of 226 runs.^[8] These results placed Swaziland third in their pool. However, due to the South African side being ineligible to progress to the semi-finals, the Swazis made it to the semi-finals where they would play pool A topping Sierra Leone.^[9] The Sierra Leoneans batted first and made 116 runs; Swaziland's Joseph Wright was the leading wicket taker with five.^[9] The Swazis chased down the target in 30 overs to win by four wickets.^[9] Wright top scored for Swaziland with 48 runs.^[9] In the final the Swazis played Ghana who had beaten Rwanda by eight wickets in their semi-final.^[10][11] In the final, held at Willowmoore Park, Swaziland batted first and scored 195 runs.^[10] Abdul Patel top scored with 51 runs.^[10] In reply, the Ghanaians chased down the total inside 42 overs, losing five wickets.^[10] Therefore, the Ghanaians won the match by five wickets.^[10]

Division Two

After their promotion from Division Three, the Swaziland national cricket team competed in the 2008 ICC World Cricket League Africa Region Division Two.^[12] They finished last in the competition, losing all their matches. Swaziland lost three matches by over 100 runs; to Nigeria, Mozambique and Zambia.^[12] They also lost to Ghana (by five wickets) and to Botswana (by ten wickets).^[12]

2010

In 2010 Swaziland competed in Division Two of the ICC World Cricket League Africa Region Division.^[13] In the competition, they were scheduled to play one game against Zambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Malawi.^[12] Both of Swaziland's first two games, against Ghana and Sierra Leone, were abandoned due to rain.^[14][15] Swaziland then played the Zambians, but lost by eight wickets.^[16] On 27 April 2010, the Swazis played a game against Sierra Leone, which had been rescheduled due to the washout that had occurred earlier in the competition.^[17] Swaziland won by thirty runs in a rain affected match.^[17] Swaziland then played Mozambique.^[18] Mozambique scored 127 runs and the Swazis chased down the Mozambique total inside 43 overs to win by four wickets.^[18] Swaziland's final match of the competition was against Malawi.^[13] The Swazis won by nine wickets.^[19] The Swazis finished third in the competition, behind Zambia and Ghana.^[13] They were not promoted from Division Two.^[13]

Twenty20 cricket

2011–2012

In Twenty20 cricket (T20), Swaziland competed in the ICC Africa Twenty20 Championship. They made their T20 debut in the 2011 Second Division.^[20] Swaziland finished sixth out of nine teams in the competition. They won three matches with wins against Mozambique, Rwanda and Malawi.^[20] They beat Mozambique by eight wickets, Rwanda by six wickets and Malawi by five runs.^[20] Swaziland lost against Sierra Leone, Botswana, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria.^[20] For the 2012 season, Swaziland again competed in Division Two of the Africa Twenty20 Championship.^[21] The Swazis' only won one match; a six-wicket win over Seychelles.^[21] In the eight team competition, Swaziland finished seventh; beating only Sierra Leone. Therefore, Swaziland, along with Sierra Leone, were, relegated to Division Three for the next season.^[22]

2014

Divison Three

Due to their relegation in the previous year, Swaziland competed in Division Three of the ICC Africa Twenty20 for 2014.^[21] The competition had four teams in it with Sierra Leone, Gambia and Rwanda competing alongside Swaziland.^[21] Each team played twice against each other team.^[21] Swaziland's first game was a 63-run loss to Sierra Leone.^[23] The Swazis' then beat Gambia by 86 runs.^[24] Next they played Rwanda and lost by six wickets.^[25] Swaziland then won three consecutive matches.^[22] They beat the Sierra Leoneans by 13 runs, the Gambians by 117 runs and the Rwandans by 34 runs.^[26][27][28] Overall, Swaziland won twelve points, the same as Sierra Leone. Rwanda won nine points and Gambia won two.^[29] Swaziland had a larger net run rate then Sierra Leone, and, therefore, Swaziland won the competition and promotion.^[29]

Divison Two

Due to their promotion from Division Three, Swaziland played in the 2014 ICC Africa Twenty20 Division Two.^[30] They won two matches; a 30-run win over Mozambique and an 8-run win over Seychelles.^[31][32] Overall they finished fifth out of six teams and were not promoted or relegated.^[33]

Suspension

Swaziland originally was due to compete in the 2016 ICC Africa Twenty20 Division Two. However in February 2016, it was announced that the ICC had disqualified the Swazis from the competition, as they had fielded ineligible players in the 2014 Division Three competition. At least five illegal Asian players played for Swaziland in the competition, including two that had played for Mozambique in 2012. Sierra Leone filed a complaint to ICC, and the ICC decided that Swaziland had breached the player eligibility regulations. This meant that Swaziland could not compete in the 2016 Division Two competition, and were instead replaced by Sierra Leone and Rwanda.^[34]

References