The France national cricket team is the men's team that represents France in international cricket. They became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1998, having previously been an affiliate member since 1987.France at CricketArchive The country's national team is best known for winning the silver medal in the cricket event at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, the only time a cricket competition has been held at the Olympics. France now plays most of its matches in European Cricket Council (ECC) tournaments, although the team also appeared at the 2001 ICC Trophy.
In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between France and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 have the full T20I status.
History Early years One of the many theories about the origin of cricket is that France could be a possible birthplace of the game: a mention of a bat and ball game called "criquet" in a village of the Pas-de-Calais occurs in a French manuscript of 1478, and "criquet" is an old French word meaning "post" or "wicket". However, it is also possible that this could be an early variant of croquet.
Horace Walpole, son of former British Prime Minister Robert Walpole mentioned seeing cricket in Paris in 1766.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) were due to make the first ever international cricket tour of France, in 1789, however this was cancelled due to the French Revolution. This match was finally played in 1989, as part of the bicentennial celebrations of the revolution, with France beating the MCC by 7 wickets.Scorecard of France v MCC, 24 September 1989 at Cricket Archive
The first documented match took place in the Bois de Boulogne between Paris Cricket Club and Nottingham Amateurs in 1864.London Evening Standard 18 May 1864 The Paris Cricket Club published a book explaining the game the following year.
Olympic Games
The first, and so far only, appearance of cricket at the Olympic Games took place in 1900, with the French team losing the only match played to Great Britain: France therefore remain the reigning silver medalist until 2028, when cricket will return to the Olympic Games (in the Twenty20 format).
The French team, however, consisted of ten British residents in Paris and two Frenchmen, members of the Standard Athletic Club. The match was twelve-a-side, and the following players represented France:
Philip Tomalin (captain) William Anderson William Attrill John Braid W. Browning (wicket-keeper) Robert Horne Timothée Jordan Arthur MacEvoy Douglas Robinson H. F. Roques Alfred Schneidau Henry Terry
The Standard Athletic Club restaged the 1900 Olympic cricket match in 1987, and France played the MCC in Meudon in 1989.
In 1910, France took part in an exhibition tournament in Brussels, also involving the MCC, the Netherlands and Belgium. They played one game, against the Netherlands, winning by 63 runs.Scorecard of France v Netherlands, 26 June 1910 at Cricinfo
The modern era Many cricket clubs folded after the Second World War, but an influx of English and Asian immigrants led to a resurgence of the game in the early 1980s. The current French Cricket Association was formed in 1987, and they gained Affiliate membership of the ICC the same year.
After the win in the 1989 match mentioned above, there were a handful of tours from English county teams, and France toured Austria in 1996, losing both matches against the national team.France in Austria, 1996 at Cricket Archive In 1997, they played in the European Nations Cup in Zuoz, Switzerland,1997 European Nations Cup at Cricket Archive winning after beating Germany by one run in the final.Scorecard of France v Germany, 23 August 1997 at Cricket Archive This match was included in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack list of 100 best matches of the 20th century as David Bordes ran the winning leg bye with a fractured skull.A hundred matches of the century, 2000 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
They played in the European Championship in the Netherlands in 1998, finishing eighth after losing to Germany in a play-off.1998 European Championship at CricketEurope They became an associate member of the ICC the same year. They finished third in Division Two of the 2000 European Championship.2000 European Championship at CricketEurope
France played their only ICC Trophy in the 2001 tournament in Canada, though they did not progress beyond the first round.2001 ICC Trophy at CricketEurope The following year, they finished fifth in Division Two of the European Championships,Tables and results for the 2002 European Championship at the tournament's official site and finished as runners up in the 2004 tournament.2004 European Championships Division Two at the European Cricket Council website They finished sixth in the 2006 tournament after losing a play-off to Guernsey.2006 European Championship Division Two at CricketEurope
In 2008, France finished fourth in Division 2 of the European Championship. In 2010, France finished third in the same competition, narrowly missing out on qualification for the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight. In 2011, they finished sixth in the ICC Europe Division 1 T20 Championship after losing the fifth place play-off match to Norway. In 2012, they finished second in the ICC European World Cricket League 8 Qualifier, held in La Manga, Spain; again missing out on qualification for Division 8 of the World Cricket League.
In 2018, France competed at the ICC World Twenty20 Europe Region Qualifier in Netherlands.
In 2021, France played their first ever T20 international match against Norway in a tri-nation series in Germany, winning the match by 4 wickets.
International grounds
Ground City Region Capacity Matches hosted Notes Dreux Sport Cricket Club Dreux Centre-Val de Loire 1,000 T20Is Hosted France's first home T20Is; used for ICC Europe qualifiers and ECS Parc du Grand Cricket Ground Nantes Pays de la Loire 800 T20Is Newer venue near Paris; hosts European Cricket Network tournaments
Tournament history Legend
Promoted Remained in the same division Relegated
Summer Olympics Cricket at the Summer Olympics records Host/YearRoundPositionGPWLTNR 1900Runners-up2/210100 2028TBD Total 1/1 0 Titles 1 0 1 0 0
ICC Trophy/CWC Qualifier ICC Trophy/Cricket World Cup Qualifier records Host/YearRoundPositionGPWLTNR 1979Not eligible–Not an ICC member 1982 1986 1990Not eligible–ICC affiliate member 1994 1997 2001Division two20/24514002005–2023Did not qualify Total 1/12 0 Titles 5 1 4 0 0
T20 World Cup Europe Sub-regional Qualifiers T20 World Cup Europe Sub-regional Qualifiers recordsHost/YearRoundPositionGPWLTNR 2019Round-robin (DNQ)4/652300 2023Round-robin (DNQ)4/1053200 2024Round-robin (DNQ)4/1053200 2026Round-robin (DNQ)4/1053200 Total 4/4 0 Titles 20 11 9 0 0
European Cricket Championship
European Cricket Championship records Host/YearRoundPositionGPWLTNR 1996Did not participate 1998Round-robin8/1052300 2000Round-robin3/652300 2002Round-robin5/652300 2004Round-robin2/654100 2006Round-robin6/831200 2008Round-robin5/652300 2010Round-robin4/653200 Total 7/8 0 Titles 33 16 17 0 0
European T20 Championship Division One European T20 Championship Division One recordsYearRoundPositionGPWLTNR 2011Round-robin6/1262400 2013Round-robin5/1264200 2015Round-robin6/650500 Total 3/3 0 Titles 17 6 11 0 0
Other tournaments Valletta Cup Mdina Cup 2023: 3rd place 2023: Winners 2024: Runners-up
Records and statistics
International match summary — France
Last updated 30 July 2026 Playing Record Format M W L T NR Inaugural Match Twenty20 Internationals 53 27 25 1 0 5 August 2021
Twenty20 International Highest score: 235/2 v. Turkey on 27 July 2026 at Moara Vlasei Cricket Ground, Ilfov County. Highest individual score: 109, Gustav Mckeon v. Switzerland on 25 July 2022 at Tikkurila Cricket Ground, Vantaa. Best bowling figures in an innings: 6/21, Dawood Ahmadzai v. Malta on 9 May 2024 at Dreux Sport Cricket Club, Dreux.
T20I record versus other nations
Records complete to T20I #4054. Last updated 30 July 2026. Opponent M W L T NR First match First win vs Associate Members 3 1 2 0 0 16 June 2024 28 July 2026 4 1 2 1 0 10 May 2024 11 May 2024 1 1 0 0 0 17 May 2026 17 May 2026 1 1 0 0 0 16 May 2026 16 May 2026 1 1 0 0 0 24 July 2022 24 July 2022 1 1 0 0 0 30 July 2022 30 July 2022 2 0 2 0 0 6 August 2021 1 0 1 0 0 31 July 2022 1 0 1 0 0 29 June 2025 1 1 0 0 0 9 June 2024 9 June 2024 1 1 0 0 0 29 July 2026 29 July 2026 1 0 1 0 0 10 June 2024 1 0 1 0 0 19 May 2026 4 3 1 0 0 11 July 2023 11 July 2023 7 4 3 0 0 10 July 2023 10 July 2023 7 4 3 0 0 5 August 2021 5 August 2021 4 1 3 0 0 5 April 2026 8 April 2026 3 2 1 0 0 13 July 2023 13 July 2023 3 1 2 0 0 7 August 2025 10 August 2025 3 1 2 0 0 25 July 2022 22 May 2026 3 3 0 0 0 15 June 2024 15 June 2024
Current squad Updated as of 7 August 2025.
This lists all the players who were part of the French squad for the 2025 Viking Cup.
Name Age Batting style Bowling style Last T20I Notes Batters Gustav McKeon Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 2025 Captain Mukhtar Ghulami Right-handed 2025 Lucas Smith Right-handed 2025 Christian Roberts Right-handed Leg break 2025 Mustafa Omer Right-handed Left-arm medium-fast 2025 Alestin Johnmary Right-handed 2025 All-rounder Usman Khan Right-handed Right-arm medium 2025 Zain Ahmad Right-handed Leg break googly 2025 Jamshid Nasiri Right-handed Right-arm off break 2025 Rahmatullah Mangal Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 2025 Dawood Ahmadzai Right-handed Leg break 2025 Wicket-keeper Lingeswaran Canessane Right-handed 2025 Hevit Jackson Right-handed 2025 Pace Bowlers Faisal Safi Left-handed Left-arm medium 2025 Noman Amjad Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 2025 Rohullah Mangal Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 2025 Zaheer Zahiri Right-handed Left-arm medium 2025
Notable players The following French national team players have played first-class or List A cricket:
Waseem Bhatti – played first-class cricket for Pakistan International Airlines in 1998 and 1999Waseem Bhatti at Cricket Archive Simon Hewitt – played first-class cricket for Oxford University in 1984Simon Hewitt at Cricket Archive David Holt – played first-class cricket for Loughborough UCCE in 2005 and 2006David Holt at Cricket Archive Paul Wakefield – played List A cricket for Cheshire in 1983Paul Wakefield at Cricket Archive Robert Mozelewski captained the French cricket team in 04/05. Qualified for the team thanks to his parents residency in France.
See also List of France Twenty20 International cricketers France women's national cricket team
References
External links Official site