History of cricket in Croatia

The first mention of the game of cricket in the seemingly unlikely central European country of Croatia dates back to the start of the 19th century. At this time, the British naval officer Captain William Hoste and his troops, stationed on the Croatian island of Vis, played cricket on the island during their spare time as a means of relaxing and maintaining morale. After Captain Hoste and his men left the island, the game of cricket left along with them, and it was not for almost another two centuries that the spirit of the game was rekindled in Croatia.

During the early to mid-1990s, the opportunity for many of the nearly four million Croats living outside Croatia to return to their homeland presented itself. When the idea to form a cricket club in Croatia was born, the founders did not have any proper cricketing equipment or any training facilities. Nevertheless, the passion for the game was so instilled in a small group of enthusiasts that they decided to start playing cricket in Croatia even though most had not played highly competitively in their 'countries of origin'.

The first-ever match played by a Croatian side was a friendly match played against Ljubljana Cricket Club from neighbouring Slovenia, in 1998. Soon afterwards, Zagreb Cricket Club was founded as the first cricket club in the country, and started to play regular friendly matches with clubs from neighbouring countries.