Belgium national cricket team

Belgium

Association	Belgian Cricket Federation
ICC status	Affiliate (1991) Associate (2005)
ICC region	ICC Europe
WCL	n/a (regional tournaments)
First international
Belgium v. France  (Brussels; 19 June 1910)
As of 13 September 2015

The Belgium national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Belgium in international cricket matches. The team is organised by the Belgian Cricket Federation, which has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 2005 (and previously an affiliate member, from 1991). Belgium played its first international match in 1910, in an exhibition tournament in Brussels that also featured France, the Netherlands, and the Marylebone Cricket Club. Since the 1990s, the team has regularly competed in European Cricket Council (ECC) tournaments, usually in the lower divisions.

The first game of modern cricket in Belgium appears to have been a match played by British soldiers before the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, though research has suggested that cricket may be related to a game exported from Flanders to England in the Sixteenth Century. The first record of organised cricket is a painting dated 1870 that hangs in the pavilion of Lord's Cricket Ground in London that depicts the opening of the Brussels cricket ground in 1866 by mayor Jules Anspach.

The national team first played a match in 1905 when they played against the Netherlands. The match was played almost every year until 1986. Belgium hosted a tournament as part of the 1910 Brussels Exhibition also involving France, the MCC and the Netherlands. Belgium lost their match against the MCC by an innings and lost to the Netherlands by 116 runs.

Belgium became an affiliate member of the ICC in 1991. They began to play in European tournaments, playing in the ECC Trophy for the first time in 1999 when they finished last. They fared better in the next tournament, reaching the semi finals of the 2001 ECC Trophy in Austria.

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