Singapore national cricket team

The Singapore national cricket team is the team that represents Singapore in international cricket. Singapore has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1974, and was a founding member of the Asian Cricket Council formed in 1983.[4]

Singapore
Flag of Singapore
AssociationSingapore Cricket Association
Personnel
CaptainAritra Dutta
CoachSalman Butt
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAssociate member (1974)
ICC regionAsia
ICC Rankings Current[1] Best-ever
T20I 37th 19th (20 Oct 2019)
One Day Internationals
World Cup Qualifier appearances6 (first in 1979)
Best result14th (1997)
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Qatar at Indian Association Ground, Singapore; 22 July 2019
Last T20Iv  Myanmar at Bayuemas Oval, Pandamaran; 9 September 2024
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[2] 54 21/32 (1 tie, 0 no results)
This year[3] 11 7/4 (0 ties, 0 no results)
T20 World Cup Qualifier appearances3[a] (first in 2019)
Best result8th (2022)

T20I kit

As of 9 September 2024

The Singapore Cricket Club was established in 1837 during the colonial period. Singapore played regular fixtures against other British colonies in Asia beginning in the late 19th century, notably participating in the interport matches. It later contributed players to combined teams representing the Straits Settlements and Malaya. After gaining ICC membership, Singapore played in six out of the first seven editions of the ICC Trophy, beginning in 1979. Post-independence, its greatest rivalry is with neighbouring Malaysia, in the annual Stan Nagaiah Trophy. Singapore reached as high as Division Three of the World Cricket League. The team made its Twenty20 International debut in 2019, following the granting of that status to associate members of the ICC, and in the same year participated in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier for the first time.

History

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Beginnings of cricket in Singapore

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The first recorded mention of cricket in Singapore was in 1837 when a "Mr Z" complained, in a letter to the Singapore Free Press, of cricket being played near a church on a Sunday in violation of the Christian Sabbath. This resulted in cricket being banned on Sundays, a prohibition that remained in place until the 1930s.[5]

Cricket was an important recreational activity, with matches often played against the officers of visiting ships. The Singapore Cricket Club was formed in 1852 and played its first match amongst themselves the same year. The quality of cricket in these early years was quite poor, and it wasn't until 1865 before a team total of more than 100 was scored.[5] Louis Glass became the first person in Singapore to record a century two years later.[6]

The Singapore Cricket Club eventually began to play against teams from other parts of British Malaya such as Penang, Perak and Kuala Lumpur[6] and this eventually led to an invitation from Hong Kong to send a team there, which saw the beginning of the long-running series of "Interport matches".[5]

Straits Settlements cricket team

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The 1890 invitation from Hong Kong led to the formation of the Straits Settlements cricket team, and they played Hong Kong in two two-day matches, both of which were lost. The series was the beginning of the "Interport Matches", which continued until 1987. Hong Kong and Ceylon came to Singapore the following year, and the Straits Settlements won both matches, also drawing against a combined Ceylon/Hong Kong team.[6]

The Straits Settlements team beat Ceylon in Colombo in 1893,[7] and played a match in Jakarta in 1895. Matches against the Federated Malay States began in 1896, and against Shanghai in 1897.[6]

They played Burma in 1906, and their involvement in the Interport Matches ceased in 1909, when they were replaced by an All Malaya team. The Straits Settlements visited Bangkok in 1910, though from them their only matches came annually against the Federated Malay States until 1940. These fixtures continue in the modern era as the Saudara Cup matches between Singapore and Malaysia.[6]

Singapore team

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First matches

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The Singapore team did play twice during the Straits Settlements team era, playing twice against WAS Oldfield's XI in 1927, losing both matches by an innings.[8][9] They next played in 1957, drawing at home to Ceylon.[10] Various teams visited Singapore in the 1960s, including Worcestershire.[5]

The Interport Matches resumed in 1968 with Singapore drawing against Hong Kong. These matches were played occasionally until 1987. In 1970, the Saudara Cup match against Malaysia was played for the first time, this continues annually to the present day. Also that year, Singapore played an MCC side captain by Tony Lewis and featuring Geoff Boycott. The match was won by the MCC.[6]

ICC membership

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Singapore became an associate member of the ICC in 1974[4] and three years later won the Saudara Cup for the first time. In 1978, Singapore played India at home, the match ending in a draw.[6] Singapore took part in the first ICC Trophy in England in 1979 but could only finish fourth in their first round group after only beating Argentina.[11] They finished fourth out of eight teams in their first round group in the 1982 tournament[6] and withdrew from the 1986 tournament when several of their players couldn't get leave from work.[5]

Singapore played in the South East Asian Tournament for the first time in 1984, playing in the event again in 1988 and 1992 (when they hosted), though they never reached the final as Bangladesh and Hong Kong finished first and second on each occasion.[5] The final Interport Match took place in Singapore in 1987, with Hong Kong beating the home side. They returned to the ICC Trophy for the 1990 tournament in the Netherlands, beating Malaysia and Israel during the event,[6] and failing to progress past the first round.[12]

Singapore began playing in the Tuanku Ja'afar Cup in 1991, an annual tournament against Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand. They won the event just once, in 1994, a year in which they finished 19th out of 20 teams in the ICC Trophy. The Stan Nagaiah Trophy, an annual three match series of one-day matches against Malaysia, began the following year. Singapore played in the first ACC Trophy in 1996, beating the Maldives and Thailand[6] but failing to go past the first round.[13] They finished 14th in the 1997 ICC Trophy and could only beat Papua New Guinea in the 1998 ACC Trophy,[6] again failing to go past the first round.[14]

21st century

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2000 - 2017

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The first two major tournaments of the 21st century for Singapore got them off to a bad start as they lost all their first round matches in both the 2000 ACC Trophy in the UAE and the 2001 ICC Trophy in Ontario, their final ICC Trophy to date. They hosted the ACC Trophy in 2002, beating the Maldives and Thailand (by 325 runs) but again failing to progress beyond the first round, a performance they repeated in 2004. The finished fourth in the ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament in 2004 and 2005.[6]

Singapore began to show an improvement in their form in 2006. That year they finished third in the ACC Premier League and finally passed the first round stage in the ACC Trophy, finishing fifth to qualify for Division Five of the World Cricket League in 2008. They didn't progress beyond the first round of the 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup, beating only Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, but captain Chaminda Ruwan did make the highest score of the tournament.[6] In the World Cricket League Division Five tournament in Jersey, Singapore finished fifth after beating Botswana in a play-off,[15] though they did beat Afghanistan during the first round,[16] who went on to win the tournament.[17]

In August 2009, Singapore hosted and won Division Six of the World Cricket League, going through the tournament undefeated and winning promotion back to Division Five.[18] In November 2009, Singapore travelled to the UAE for the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup.[19] During the tournament Singapore finished third in Group A, therefore failing to progress to the semi-finals and a chance to qualify for the 2010 Asian Games. In the fifth place playoff Singapore lost to Nepal by 9 wickets to finish to tournament in sixth place.

In the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Five, they finished fourth to remain in Division Five. Hosting the 2012 tournament, they ran out winners, moving them up to Division Four and keeping their hopes of World Cup qualification alive. Singapore has decided to dedicate their strengths in to their SEA GAMES team, where Mohammad Yusof Bin Aslam (Captain) has chosen not to participate due to conflict of interest.

In August 2017, Singapore won two medals in cricket at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games. They won the gold medal in the 20-over tournament and the silver medal in the 50-over tournament. On 26 April 2018, ICC released in a press conference that all the men's T20 matches will get T20I status starting from 1 January 2019.[20]

2018-Present

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In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Singapore and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 have the full T20I status.[21]

Singapore played their first T20I against Qatar on 22 July 2019.[22] On 28 July 2019, after their victory against Nepal in the regional finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier; Singapore qualified for the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier for the first time.

22 July 2019
10:00
Scorecard
Singapore  
186/7 (20 overs)
v
  Qatar
153/9 (20 overs)
Surendran Chandramohan 47 (39)
Iqbal Hussain 4/33 (4 overs)
Tamoor Sajjad 34 (29)
Janak Prakash 3/15 (4 overs)
Singapore won by 33 runs
Indian Association Ground, Singapore
Umpires: Viswanadan Kalidas (Mas) and Buddhi Pradhan (Nep)
Player of the match: Janak Prakash (Sin)
  • Singapore won the toss and elected to bat.
  • First ever T20I match for Singapore.

After April 2019, Singapore will play in the 2019–21 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.[23]

In September 2019, Singapore beat Zimbabwe by four runs in the third T20I match of the 2019–20 Singapore Tri-Nation Series.[24] It was the first time that Singapore had beaten a Full Member team in an international cricket match.[25]

29 September 2019
19:30 (D/N)
Scorecard
Singapore  
181/9 (18 overs)
v
  Zimbabwe
177/7 (18 overs)
Manpreet Singh 41 (23)
Ryan Burl 3/24 (3 overs)
Sean Williams 66 (35)
Amjad Mahboob 2/20 (4 overs)
Singapore won by 4 runs
Indian Association Ground, Singapore
Umpires: Akbar Ali (UAE) and Balraj Manikandan (Sin)
Player of the match: Sean Williams (Zim)
  • Singapore's first victory against a Full Member.

Grounds

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Locations of all stadiums which have hosted an international cricket match within Singapore

Tournament history

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  • 2019: 2nd place (League A)
  • 2008: Did not qualify
  • 2010: Did not qualify
  • 2012: Did not qualify
  • 2015: Did not qualify
  • 2019: 11th place
  • 2022: 8th place
  • 2023 (T20 WC Asia Qualifier): Group stage
  • 2010: Withdrew
  • 2014: Did not participate

ACC Men's Challenger Cup

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ACC Eastern Region T20

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Asia Cup Qualifier

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Southeast Asian Games

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Records and statistics

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International Match Summary — Singapore[28]

Last updated 9 September 2024

Playing Record
Format M W L T NR Inaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals 54 21 32 1 0 22 July 2019

Twenty20 International

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T20I record versus other nations[28]

Records complete to T20I #2847. Last updated 9 September 2024.

Opponent M W L T NR First match First win
Test nations
  Zimbabwe 3 1 2 0 0 29 September 2019 29 September 2019
Associate Members
  Bahrain 2 0 1 1 0 16 December 2022
  Bermuda 1 1 0 0 0 20 October 2019 20 October 2019
  Cambodia 2 0 2 0 0 4 May 2023
  Hong Kong 4 1 3 0 0 4 March 2020 4 March 2020
  Indonesia 1 1 0 0 0 11 May 2023 11 May 2023
  Japan 2 2 0 0 0 6 February 2024 6 February 2024
  Jersey 2 0 2 0 0 14 July 2022
  Kenya 1 0 1 0 0 23 October 2019
  Kuwait 2 1 1 0 0 24 August 2022 6 September 2024
  Malaysia 10 3 7 0 0 26 July 2019 26 July 2019
  Maldives 2 2 0 0 0 2 February 2024 2 February 2024
  Mongolia 1 1 0 0 0 5 September 2024 5 September 2024
  Myanmar 1 1 0 0 0 9 September 2024 9 September 2024
  Namibia 1 0 1 0 0 26 October 2019
    Nepal 3 1 2 0 0 28 July 2019 28 July 2019
  Netherlands 1 0 1 0 0 22 October 2019
  Oman 1 0 1 0 0 31 October 2023
  Papua New Guinea 3 1 2 0 0 25 October 2019 2 July 2022
  Philippines 1 1 0 0 0 3 May 2023 3 May 2023
  Qatar 4 1 3 0 0 22 July 2019 22 July 2019
  Scotland 1 1 0 0 0 18 October 2019 18 October 2019
  Thailand 3 2 1 0 0 29 February 2020 29 February 2020
  United Arab Emirates 1 0 1 0 0 22 August 2022
  United States 1 0 1 0 0 12 July 2022

Other records and statistics

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Twenty20 Matches

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Statistics from Singapore players in World Cricket League matches and ACC Events since 2008

Highest scores

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Best Bowling figures

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ICC Trophy

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Overall

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Current squad

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This lists all the active players who have played for the Singapore in the past 12 months and the forms in which they have played, or any players who have been selected in the team's most recent One-day or T20I squad. Players uncapped for the Singapore national team are listed in italics. Key

Name Age Batting style Bowling style Forms Last One-day Last Twenty20 Notes
Batsmen
Surendran Chandramohan 36 Right-handed One-day & T20I   2023   2024
Aritra Dutta 33 Right-handed One-day & T20I   2023   2024 Captain
Rohan Rangarajan 25 Right-handed Right-arm off break One-day & T20I   2023   2024
Rezza Gaznavi 32 Right-handed Right-arm leg break T20I   2022   2024 Vice-captain
Amartya Kaul 25 Right-handed Right-arm medium One-day & T20I   2022   2024
Abdul Rahman 24 Right-handed One-day   2023   2023
Prasheen Param 29 Right-handed Right-arm off break One-day   2023   2017
All-rounders
Manpreet Singh 30 Right-handed Right-arm off break One-day & T20I   2023   2023 Also wicket-keeper
Janak Prakash 24 Right-handed Right-arm medium One-day & T20I   2022   2023
Avi Dixit 25 Left-handed Right-arm medium One-day & T20I   2023   2024
Anish Paraam 34 Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox T20I   2022   2024
Ishaan Swaney 23 Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox T20I   2022   2024
Thilipan Omaidurai 32 Right-handed Right-arm medium One-day   2023
Raoul Sharma 21 Right-handed Right-arm medium T20I   2024
Vinit Mehta 22 Right-handed Right-arm off break One-day
Wicket-keepers
Aman Desai 22 Left-handed T20I   2022   2024
Sidhant Srikanth 19 Right-handed One-day   2023   2022
Aryan Modi 19 Right-handed One-day   2023   2022
Spin bowlers
Akshay Puri 21 Right-handed Right-arm off break One-day & T20I   2023   2024
Vinoth Baskaran 34 Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox One-day & T20I   2023   2022
Harsha Bharadwaj 17 Right-handed Right-arm leg break T20I   2024
Pace bowlers
Aryaman Sunil 24 Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast One-day & T20I   2022   2022
Amjad Mahboob 43 Right-handed Right-arm medium One-day & T20I   2022   2023
Ramesh Kalimuthu 37 Right-handed Right-arm medium One-day & T20I   2023   2024
Adwitya Bhargava 43 Right-handed Right-arm medium One-day   2023   2023
Sachin Banamali 35 Right-handed Right-arm medium T20I   2024

Updated as on 11 February 2024

Coaching staff

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Position Name
Team manager
Head coach
Assistant coach   Alexander John
Spin bowling coach   Alec Laeis
Fast bowling coach
Fielding coach   Anton Van der Dussen
Physiotherapist  
Physical performance manager
Trainer   Hary Bruce
Analyst (ODI/T20)   Harry Tiffin
Analyst (Test)  
  1. ^ T20 World Cup Qualifier refers to the Regional Final of the ICC Asia region from the 2023 edition.

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  2. ^ "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  3. ^ "T20I matches - 2024 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  4. ^ a b Singapore at CricketArchive
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Encyclopedia of World Cricket by Roy Morgan, SportsBooks Publishing, 2007
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Timeline of Singapore Cricket at CricketEurope
  7. ^ Scorecard of Ceylon v Straits Settlements, 19 October 1893 at CricketArchive
  8. ^ Scorecard of Singapore v WAS Oldfield's XI, 27 May 1927 at CricketArchive
  9. ^ Scorecard of Singapore v WAS Oldfield's XI, 30 May 1927 at CricketArchive
  10. ^ Scorecard of Singapore v Ceylon, 18 August 1957 at CricketArchive
  11. ^ a b "ICC TROPHY, 1979: ENGLAND". cricinfo.com.
  12. ^ a b 1990 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  13. ^ a b 1996 ACC Trophy at CricketEurope
  14. ^ a b 1998 ACC Trophy at CricketArchive
  15. ^ a b Scorecard of Botswana v Singapore, 31 May 2008 at CricketArchive
  16. ^ Scorecard of Afghanistan v Singapore, 27 May 2008 at CricketArchive
  17. ^ Scorecard of Jersey v Afghanistan, 31 May 2008 at CricketArchive
  18. ^ "Cricinfo, Accessed 25 September 2009". Archived from the original on 16 August 2009.
  19. ^ "Asian Cricket Council, Assessed 25 September 2009". Archived from the original on 4 February 2009.
  20. ^ "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". www.icc-cricket.com. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  21. ^ "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  22. ^ "1st Match, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Region Final at Singapore, Jul 22 2019 - Singapore vs Qatar, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Region Final 2019, 1st Match Match Live Score, Summary | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  23. ^ "All to play for in last ever World Cricket League tournament". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  24. ^ "Singapore fight back to secure historic five-run win over Zimbabwe". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  25. ^ "Singapore create history by clinching T20I victory against Zimbabwe". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  26. ^ "2005 ICC Trophy Official Website". Archived from the original on 2 December 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  27. ^ World Cricket League Structure 2006–2009
  28. ^ a b "Records / Singapore / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  29. ^ "Records / Singapore / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  30. ^ "Records / Singapore / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  31. ^ "Records / Singapore / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". Cricinfo.
  32. ^ "Records / Singapore / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". Cricinfo.
  33. ^ Individual scored of 75 and more in an innings for Singapore in the ICC Trophy at CricketArchive
  34. ^ Five or more wickets in an innings for Singapore in the ICC Trophy at CricketArchive
  35. ^ a b Scorecard of Singapore v Thailand, 16 July 2002 at CricketArchive
  36. ^ Scorecard of Malaysia v Singapore, 14 September 1979 at CricketArchive
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