Kuwait national cricket team


The Kuwait national cricket team is the team that represents the State of Kuwait in international cricket. The team is organised by the Kuwait Cricket Association, which has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 2005, having previously been an affiliate member since 1998. Kuwait made its international debut in 1979, but has only played regularly at international level since the early 2000s, appearing regularly in Asian Cricket Council tournaments since then. Beginning in the early 2010s, the side appeared in several World Cricket League events, although it was relegated back to regional level after the 2013 Division Six tournament.
In 2018 former South African international Herschelle Gibbs was appointed coach of Kuwait for the 2020 ICC World Twenty20 qualification process.
In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Kuwait and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I.Kuwait made its Twenty20 International debut on 20 January 2019, defeating Maldives by eight wickets in the 2019 ACC Western Region T20 at Al Emarat Cricket Stadium, Muscat, Oman.

History

The Kuwait Cricket Association was formed in 1996 and they became an affiliate member of the ICC two years later.

21st century

2000 - 2009

They participated in the ACC Trophy for the first time in 2000, but couldn't progress beyond the first round, a performance they repeated in the 2002 tournament.
In 2004, Kuwait pulled off a series off upsets to finish in third place in that year's ACC Trophy, only just missing out on qualification for the 2005 ICC Trophy. They did qualify for the repêchage tournament in early 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in which they finished sixth after losing to the Cayman Islands in a play-off.
In February 2006, Kuwait finished third out of five teams when they hosted the ACC Middle East Cup. In August, they took part in the ACC Trophy, but were unable to reproduce their strong 2004 performance. They were eliminated in the first round when a tie with Hong Kong left them in third place in their group on run rate. A win in this match would have seen them through to the quarter finals.
In 2007 Kuwait played in the ACC Twenty20 Cup, which they also hosted. They finished third in the tournament, beating the UAE by three runs in a play-off.

2010 - present

Kuwait has participated in several World Cricket League tournaments, hosting and winning Division Eight in 2010; winning Division Seven in Botswana in May 2011; and coming third in Division Six in Malaysia in September 2011. Kuwait set one of the lowest ever T20 targets during the 2014 Asian Games.

Tournament history

[ACC Trophy]

International Match Summary — Kuwait

Twenty20 International

Most T20I runs for Kuwait
PlayerRunsAverageCareer span
Ravija Sandaruwan57744.382019–2020
Adnan Idrees25943.162019–2019
Muhammad Kashif24831.002019–2020
Mohammed Aslam13426.802020–2020
Mohammed Asghar12431.002019–2019

Most T20I wickets for Kuwait
PlayerWicketsAverageCareer span
Mohammed Aslam1514.202019–2020
Muhammad Kashif1219.662019–2020
Ilyas Ahmed1116.722019–2020
Sayeb Monib719.002020–2020
Imran Ali719.422019–2019

T20I record versus other nations
Records complete to T20I #1066. Last updated 27 February 2020.