Russia national cricket team

Russia
Flag of Russia
ICC membership granted	2012
ICC member status	Affiliate member
ICC development region	Europe
World Cricket League division	N/A
Captain	Ashwani Chopra
Coach	Unknown
First recorded match	v Carmel & District Cricket Club (2007)
As of 8 October 2010

The Russian Cricket Team is a team which represents the nation of Russia in International Cricket competitions. In 2012, they were officially endorsed by the International Cricket Council as an Affiliate and are therefore entitled to participate in ICC Official events.

Early history

The game was played in St. Petersburg as early as the 1870s. In 1875, the British residents of the city challenged the sailors of the Prince of Wales’ Royal Yacht Osbourne to a match. By 1880 cricket was well established in St. Petersburg, with British diplomats and merchants challenging the British managers and foremen of the textile mills in an annual match. By 1895 there were 4 cricket clubs in St. Petersburg.

The Communist Revolution of 1917 put paid to the spread of cricket in Russia as it was seen as a game of the “bourgeois” and playing it was discouraged. With the British moving out of St. Petersburg following the Revolution, the game quickly died with them.

Recent developments

United Cricket League (Cricket Russia) was founded in 2004 by Mr. Ashwani Chopra and Mr.Mohanjeet Singh Arora with the help of cricket lovers like Mr.Vineet Arora,Mr.Manish Rana,Mr. Samar Shakeel and many others. United Cricket league got an affiliation of International Cricket Council on 28th of June 2012.

United Cricket League( Cricket Russia) is the sole and legitimate governing body of cricket in the territory of Russian Federation. This year in March (2012) 1st cricket academy was opened in Moscow and at present 50 young native boys,32 senior native men and 58 native girls are enrolled and are learning the skills of the game. All the rules,regulations and coaching manuals are translated into Russian Language.

United Cricket League achieved the affiliation of International Cricket Council and reached new heights with the help of Mr.Alexey Kylasov,Mr.Arvinder Singh,Mr.Saqib Shaikh,Mr.Mahendra Mapagunaratne,Mr.David John Warlond,Mr.Abhijat Sawarkar,Mr.Alexander Ratner( President of Russian baseball Federation),Mr.Gorman Mathew,Mr.Suyogya Sharma and Mr.Sergey Kurchenko.

United cricket league is also thankful to the MSU baseball stadium for providing the facility to play and learn the game.

The bulk of the players representing the Russia national cricket team are drawn from the United Cricket League's annual tournament which is played in Moscow.

The Russian National Cricket team played their first home representative match against a touring side from North Wales - Carmel & District Cricket Club - at the Moscow State University Baseball Stadium in 2007.

There are also sporadic games of cricket played in St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia.

A St Petersburg XI, made up primarily of students from, Mechnikov State Medical Academy also contested two Twenty20 matches against Carmel & District Cricket Club in 2007 using a proper cricket balls and equipment.

Highlights of Team Russia In 2008 Russian team participated in the 1st edition of European t-20 held in North Wales (United Kingdom) where it lost all the matches. In 2008 Russian team participated in the six nation t-20 cup in Czech Republic and were winners there. In 2009 Russian team reached the semifinals of the European t-20 held in North Wales (United Kingdom) . Here on its journey to semifinal the team remained unbeaten. In 2010 Russian team reached the finals of the European t-20 held in Macedonia. In 2012 Russian team participated in European t-20 held in Bulgaria and finished sixth there. The main highlight of this tournament was that for 1st time Russian natives played for the country.

Current squad

The following table lists the players in the Russia squad for the 2012 European Twenty20 Championship:

   Ashwani Chopra ([captain] Right arm bowler and Batsman)
   Alexander Bogatyrev ( Left arm Batsman and Right arm medium fast bowler)
   Alexander Yesin ( Right arm batsman )
   Andrey Shchpilo ( Wicket keeper batsman)
   Saqib Shaikh ( Right arm batsman and medium fast bowler)
   Arvinder Singh ( Right arm bowler and Batsman)
   Pavel Akishev ( Right arm medium pacer)
   Rajesh Sharma ( Right hand batsman)
   Egor Sarubhukov ( Left hand batsman)
   Ashok Chowdhary ( Right hand batsman)
   Atul Tyagi ( Right hand batsman)
   Abhijat Sawarkar ( Wicket keeper batsman)
   Vasily Kochnov ( Right arm medium pacer)
   Grigory Kochnov ( Wicket keeper batsman)
   Roshan Jha ( Right arm bowler and Batsman)
   Andrey Kripochin ( Left hand batsman)
   Subir Nandi Roy ( Right arm offbreak bowler and batsman)
   Alexey Strakhov ( Left hand batsman)
   Sergey Kurchenko ( Chief Trainer)