It was the gardeners of rich aristocratic families who first started cricket in Austria by forming the Vienna Cricket and Football Club in the 19th century. Later the British occupying troops also played the sport during World War 2. Austrian cricket is predominantly based in the capital city and in 1975 Kerry Tattersall founded Vienna Cricket Club, and three cricket grounds were built since, bringing steady growth.
Austria first played international cricket in 2002 playing in the ICC European Championships going winless in the tournament. After a hiatus of seven years, AUT returned in 2009 playing the European Championship Division Four in Cyprus winning four of the five matches.
In 2017, Austria joined ICC as an associate member and is one of the founding members of ICC Europe (earlier European Cricket Council). AUT have participated and hosted numerous ICC European tournaments and played a significant role in setting up the European Indoor Championships.
Currently ranked 41 in the ICC T20 Mens rankings, Austria will be a fiercely combative T10 unit as most of their line-up have impressed in a host of European Cricket Network events in Austria over the past two years.
Austria qualified as Runners-Up in Group B losing to the powerful Netherlands outfit.
AUSTRIA (AUT)
Captain: Razmal Shigiwal
Wicketkeeper: Abrar Bilal
Projected Top Order: Iqbal Hossain, Zeeshan Goraya, Razmal Shigiwal, Abrar Bilal, Mirza Ahsan
Projected Opening Bowlers: Aqib Iqbal, Sahel Zadran
Spin Options: Sahel Zadran, Sahil Momin, Iqbal Hossain
AUSTRIA Key Players:
Razmal Shigiwal, hard hitting batsman, started off Week 2 with a bang plundering 96 runs in just 28 balls including 11 HUGE maximos against Romania. Second highest scorer for Austria mustering 226 runs in nine innings.
Iqbal Hossain, aggressive opening batsman, second highest scorer in Group B, hammered 265 runs in 10 innings including a blistering 64* off 29 balls vs HUN. Has bagged three man of the match awards.
Aqib Iqbal, young, energetic fast bowler, capable of swinging the ball in the air and off the deck, second highest wicket taker for AUT picking up NINE wickets with a best return of 3-4.
Bilal Zalmai, the hard hitting opening batsman has been included in the Austria side for the Championship Week to boost the AUT batting. The all-rounder has amassed 618 runs at a SR of 206 and picked up 12 wickets in 22 ECS matches.
Imran Asif, second-highest run-scorer for Salzburg in FanCode ECS Austria Vienna with 225 runs at a strike-rate of 163.04.
