Saudi Arabia national cricket team


The Saudi Arabia national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Saudi Arabia in international cricket. The team is organised by the Saudi Cricket Centre, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2003 and associate member in 2016. Saudi Arabia made its international debut at the 2004 ACC Trophy in Malaysia, and has since played regularly in Asian Cricket Council tournaments. After finishing second in the 2014 ACC Elite League, the team qualified for the World Cricket League for the first time. Saudi Arabia was due to compete in the 2015 Division Six event, but members of the team were denied visas by the host country, forcing the team to withdraw.
In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Saudi Arabia and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I. Saudi Arabia made its Twenty20 International debut on 20 January 2019, losing to Bahrain by 41 runs in the 2019 ACC Western Region T20 at Al Emarat Cricket Stadium, Muscat, Oman.

International competition

The international debut of the Saudi senior team came in the ACC Trophy in 2004, where they failed to progress beyond the first round. They again failed to go past the first round in 2006, but had the remarkable achievement of scoring 499 runs in 50 overs against Brunei. Earlier in the year they came fourth in the Middle East Cup.
Arguably their greatest moment in international cricket to date came in the 2008 ACC Trophy Elite when they defeated the UAE by 29 runs, a team which has had previous One Day International experience.
With the separation of the ACC Trophy into Elite and Challenge divisions, following their performance at the 2006 ACC Trophy Saudi Arabia they competed in the Elite division in the 2008 competition, in which they came 10th. This result relegated them to the 2009 ACC Trophy Challenge, in which they did not appear. They did, however, appear in the 2010 competition, in which they came 2nd and gained promotion back to the Elite division.
Besides the 50 over format, Saudi Arabia have also played in the Twenty20 format of the game in the 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup, in which they failed to progress beyond the group stage, and the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup, in which they came 8th.
In 2017, 12th choice batsman and slow-ball extraordinaire, Arron Ward, joined the Coaching set-up as Skills Consultant to impart his "Marlow magic". Arron will accompany the national team for the forthcoming 2018 International Matches.

Tournament history

ACC Trophy

International Match Summary — Saudi Arabia

Twenty20 International

Most T20I runs for Saudi Arabia
PlayerRunsAverageCareer span
Faisal Khan20634.332019–2020
Sajid Cheema14220.282019–2020
Muhammad Nadeem12531.252019–2020
Shamsudheen Purat11829.502019–2020
Ibrarul Haq6917.252019–2019

Most T20I wickets for Saudi Arabia
PlayerWicketsAverageCareer span
Abdul Wahid918.002019–2020
Ibrarul Haq716.572019–2019
Muhammad Nadeem59.802019–2019
Usman Ali537.602019–2020
Adil Butt413.752020–2020
Shoaib Ali447.752019–2020

T20I record versus other nations
Records complete to T20I #1059. Last updated 25 February 2019.