Belgian cricket team in Malta in 2021
# Belgian cricket team in Malta in 2021

The Belgium cricket team toured Malta in July 2021 to play five Twenty20 International (T20I) matches at the Marsa Sports Club in Marsa. The Maltese team had been due to play a four-match series in Belgium in 2021, but this was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As preparation for the series, the Belgium team were scheduled to play four T20 exhibition games against the Netherlands A cricket team in June 2021, but these matches were later cancelled. Malta were declared winners of the fourth T20I after five penalty runs were retrospectively added to their total. Belgium won the series 3–2.

## Squads

| Malta | Belgium |
| - | - |
| Bikram Arora (c) Waseem Abbas Sujesh Appu Samuel Aquilina Ashok Bishnoi Gopal Chaturvedi Heinrich Gericke (wk) Zeeshan Khan Niraj Khanna Haroon Mughal Bilal Muhammad Amar Sharma Ravinder Singh Samuel Stanislaus Varun Thamotharam | Shaheryar Butt (c) Khalid Ahmadi Saqlain Ali Murid Ekrami Said Hakim Sazzad Hosen Syed Jamil (wk) Mamoon Latif Nemish Mehta Sherul Mehta (wk) Muhammad Muneeb Burhan Niaz Ashiqullah Said Sheraz Sheikh Hadisullah Tarakhel Wahidullah Usmani Saber Zakhil |

## T20I series

### 1st T20I

* 8 July 2021 09:30 Scorecard

| Belgium 99 (20 overs) | v | Malta 103/4 (16.2 overs) |
| - | - | - |
| Muhammad Muneeb 30 (44) Waseem Abbas 3/22 (4 overs) | | Niraj Khanna 35* (24) Ashiqullah Said 2/27 (4 overs) |

* Malta won by 6 wickets Marsa Sports Club, Marsa Umpires: Abdul Rahman (Mlt) and Tim Wheeler (Mlt) Player of the match: Niraj Khanna (Mlt)
* Belgium won the toss and elected to bat.
* Ashok Bishnoi, Bilal Muhammad (Mlt) and Hadisullah Tarakhel (Bel) all made their T20I debuts.
* Waseem Abbas became the first bowler for Malta to take a hat-trick in T20Is.

### 2nd T20I

* 8 July 2021 14:30 Scorecard

| Malta 50 (13 overs) | v | Belgium 52/0 (5.3 overs) |
| - | - | - |
| Varun Thamotharam 15 (14) Burhan Niaz 4/8 (4 overs) | | Hadisullah Tarakhel 45* (21) |

* Belgium won by 10 wickets Marsa Sports Club, Marsa Umpires: Abdul Rahman (Mlt) and Ghose Roy (Mlt) Player of the match: Burhan Niaz (Bel)
* Malta won the toss and elected to bat.
* Said Hakim, Burhan Niaz and Sheraz Sheikh (Bel) all made their T20I debuts.

### 3rd T20I

* 9 July 2021 13:00 Scorecard

| Malta 114/9 (20 overs) | v | Belgium 115/6 (18.3 overs) |
| - | - | - |
| Samuel Stanislaus 35 (42) Sheraz Sheikh 3/22 (3 overs) | | Saber Zakhil 32 (19) Bilal Muhammad 2/21 (4 overs) |

* Belgium won by 4 wickets Marsa Sports Club, Marsa Umpires: Aaftab Alam Khan (Mlt) and Ghose Roy (Mlt) Player of the match: Sheraz Sheikh (Bel)
* Belgium won the toss and elected to field.
* Sheraz Sheikh became the first bowler for Belgium to take a hat-trick in T20Is.

### 4th T20I

* 10 July 2021 09:30 Scorecard

| Belgium 128 (19.3 overs) | v | Malta 130 (19.2 overs) |
| - | - | - |
| Sherul Mehta 40 (56) Waseem Abbas 4/23 (4 overs) | | Samuel Stanislaus 34 (35) Ashiqullah Said 3/21 (4 overs) |

* Malta won by penalty runs Marsa Sports Club, Marsa Umpires: Aaftab Alam Khan (Mlt) and Ghose Roy (Mlt) Player of the match: Bilal Muhammad (Mlt)
* Belgium won the toss and elected to bat.
* Malta were awarded five penalty runs after being bowled out in the second innings due to a breach of the code of conduct by Belgium captain Shaheryar Butt.

### 5th T20I

* 10 July 2021 14:30 Scorecard

| Belgium 172/6 (20 overs) | v | Malta 133 (18.4 overs) |
| - | - | - |
| Hadisullah Tarakhel 78 (40) Waseem Abbas 2/23 (4 overs) | | Heinrich Gericke 55 (33) Saber Zakhil 3/28 (4 overs) |

* Belgium won by 39 runs Marsa Sports Club, Marsa Umpires: Aaftab Alam Khan (Mlt) and Abdul Rahman (Mlt) Player of the match: Saber Zakhil (Bel)
* Belgium won the toss and elected to bat.
