The Argentina national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Argentina in international cricket. The team is organised by the Argentine Cricket Association (ACA), which became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1974.
With the sport having been introduced by British immigrants, Argentina played its first international cricket match in 1868, against Uruguay, with fixtures against Brazil and Chile following in 1888 and 1893, respectively. Beginning in 1912, there were regular visits from English teams, including the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on two occasions. On four of those tours, matches between the Argentine national side and the visiting team were accorded first-class status, making for thirteen first-class matches in total between 1912 and 1938. Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, the mainstays of South American cricket, commenced regular international matches in the 1920s, which have continued into the present-day (outside the period surrounding World War II). The South American Championship was created in 1995 by those three teams and Peru, and is now held annually. Argentina has been the dominant team at the championship, winning ten out of the sixteen tournaments held, and consequently has sent only development sides since 2000 (until 2019 when the matches in the event were eligible for Twenty20 International status for the first time).
Argentina made its ICC tournament debut at the 1979 ICC Trophy in England, which was the first event staged only for associate members. The team failed to appear at the subsequent 1982 edition, but from 1986 to 2001 appeared in five consecutive tournaments. However, Argentina only won its first match at the 1990 tournament, when it defeated East and Central Africa. The team won four matches in division two at the 2001 edition, but has made no further appearances in what has now been renamed the World Cup Qualifier. In the early 2000s, Argentina was one of the leading associates in the ICC Americas region, and in 2007, when the World Cricket League (WCL) was established, the side was placed into Division Three. Promoted into Division Two later in the year, it was immediately relegated, and continued to drop divisions over the following years. Finally, after placing fourth at the 2013 Division Six event, Argentina lost its place in the global tournament system. The team is yet to re-qualify, instead competing only in regional tournaments.
History
Background
Cricket has been played in Argentina since 1806, with the international side making its first appearance in 1868 against Uruguay. Argentina faced Uruguay 29 times up until World War II, winning 21 of the matches. The team had previously played against Brazil in 1888 and then against Chile in 1893. For its first match against Chile, the national team had to travel to Santiago by crossing the Andes by mule, which took three and a half days.
First-class cricket
Argentina first played first-class cricket in 1912 against the Marylebone Cricket Club. The national team played a three match series against the visitors, winning the first game, but losing the second and third. The teams were made up almost exclusively of British expatriates who were mostly employed on the railways, in export or in farming.
Between the wars, infrequent fixtures were played against Brazil and Argentina, and were at that time included in Wisden's cricket records. First-class matches were played against an elderly MCC side in 1926/27, Sir Julien Cahn's XI in 1930 and Sir Theodore Brinckman's XI in 1937/38. The four-match series against the MCC was lost 2–1, with one game drawn. The three-match series against Sir Julien Cahn's XI finished with two draws, Cahn's XI winning the first game and the series against Brinkman's XI was drawn 1–1. That series was Argentina's last involvement in first-class cricket to date.
Players and clubs
In 1932 a South American team consisting mainly of Argentine-based players toured England. It played seven first class matches and twelve other fixtures.
A two match series against Chile in December 1938 was won by Argentina, the second match of which saw the interesting occurrence of Argentina's Alfred Jackson playing against his brother John Jackson.
Leading players during this period were the Ayling brothers, K. Bush (who also played for Brazil), D. Cavanagh, Herbert Dorning (the so-called "Grand Old Man of Argentine Cricket") and Donald Forrester.