The Malaysia national cricket team represents the country of Malaysia in international cricket matches. The team is organised by the Malaysian Cricket Association which has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1967.
During the British colonial period the Federated Malay States, Straits Settlements and Malaya cricket teams played regularly in Interport matches and against other visiting teams. Following Malaysian independence, the team's most frequent opponent has been Singapore in series for the Saudara Cup and Stan Nagaiah Trophy. Malaysia made its debut in ICC tournaments in the inaugural 1979 ICC Trophy, making regular appearances until ICC pathways were altered in the 2000s and hosting the 1997 ICC Trophy. Malaysia has regularly hosted Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments and finished runner-up in the 1998 ACC Trophy. In the World Cricket League the team reached as high as Division Three, subsequently being placed in the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.
History
Early days
Cricket has been played in what is now Malaysia since the 1880s. Various teams represented Malaya, the Federated Malay States and the Straits Settlements, formed in 1884 by the British, Royal Selangor Club (RSC) is the first cricket club founded in present Malaysia (locally called a padang also in Singapore e.g. Padang, Singapore). The Singapore Cricket Club, a former affiliate of the Malayan Cricket Association, is the oldest cricket club in the region (founded in 1852).
The first recorded match was between Selangor and Malacca in 1887. The Selangor-Singapore series was played in 1891. Cricket in Johor was played in the early 20th century, but the first recorded cricketing event is the visit of the Australian team led by C. G. Macartney in 1927. Penang is another historical cricket venue in Malaysia where cricket has been played from British times. The Penang Sports Club was established in the early 1900s. On 6 June 1927 Malaya beat Australia by 39 runs to make history. Lall Singh became the first Malaysia born test player (played for India in their debut Test at Lord's against England in 1932).
After World War II, cricket grew in popularity, leading to the founding of the Malayan Cricket Association (MCA) in 1948. Regional cricket associations like Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined and in 1963, the MCA was renamed the Malaysian Cricket Association. In 1965, the independence of Singapore led its association to leave the MCA.
The first team to represent Malaysia was in 1970, three years after the MCA became an ICC associate member, when it played an MCC side captained by Tony Lewis in a two-day match, losing by 230 runs. The same year, Malaysia played the first Saudara Cup match against Singapore, drawing the three-day match.
The Saudara Cup match continued annually, and in 1979 Malaysia participated in the first ICC Trophy, failing to progress beyond the first round, a performance they repeated in 1982 and 1986. They reached the plate competition in 1990 and 1994.
1990s
The first Stan Nagaiah Trophy was played in Singapore in February 1995 with Singapore beating Malaysia 2–1 in the three match one-day series. After winning the Stan Nagaiah Trophy and drawing the Saudara Cup match in 1996 Malaysia hosted the first ACC Trophy tournament, finishing third in their first round group.
Malaysia began to host major international tournaments in 1997, starting with the 1997 ICC Trophy in which Malaysia finished 16th after losing a play-off to Namibia. They played one season in Pakistani domestic cricket in 1998, losing all four of their preliminary round matches. Cricket made its first and, to date, only appearance in the Commonwealth Games later that year, with Malaysia hosting that year's games. The cricket tournament saw Malaysia participate as hosts though they lost all three of their first round matches. They reached the final of the ACC Trophy that same year, losing to Bangladesh.
21st century
2000–2017
In 2000, Malaysia reached the semi-final of the ACC Trophy before losing to hosts the UAE. They failed to progress beyond the first round of the 2001 ICC Trophy and lost to Nepal in the semi-finals of the 2002 ACC Trophy.