Canada National Cricket Team

The Canada national cricket team represents Canada in international cricket matches. Cricket Canada, which became an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1968, administers the national team. Along with the United States, Canada played in the first international cricket match between two countries in 1844 in New York City. This annual Canada-U.S. fixture is now called the Auty Cup.
Canada’s first international match against a team other than the U.S. was in 1932 against Australia. Like other ICC associate members, Canada’s first major international tournament was the 1979 ICC Trophy in England, where they qualified for the 1979 World Cup by placing second behind Sri Lanka. After a long absence, Canada returned to the World Cup in 2003 and remained one of the top associate teams.
From 2006-2013, Canada had One Day International and Twenty20 International status, participating in the 2007 and 2011 World Cups. However, with the new World Cricket League divisional structure, Canada has struggled, finishing near the bottom in the 2014 World Cup Qualifier and 2015 WCL Division Two, leading to relegation to the 2017 Division Three event.
In April 2018, the ICC granted all its members full Twenty20 International status, making all Twenty20 matches between Canada and other ICC members after January 1, 2019 full T20Is. Canada regained ODI status by placing above PNG in the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off and will play in the 2023–2027 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2.
Canadian cricket traces its origins to Upper Canada, especially Toronto, then known as York, in the early 1800s. Schoolmaster George Anthony Barber promoted cricket and founded the Toronto Cricket Club in 1827. In 1836, Barber organized a match between Toronto Cricket Club and Upper Canada College’s team, which the college won; this event spawned an annual tradition. Although British soldiers likely introduced cricket after the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham, the earliest documented cricket matches in Canada were played in 1785 on Montreal’s Saint Helen’s Island, the future site of Expo 67. Canada’s first international cricket match occurred in 1844 against the USA in New York.