First and Foremost many cricket fans would be shocked to hear that Portugal has a T20I Cricket team. The land that has given one of the greatest and one of the most famous football players of all time in Cristiano Ronaldo has appointed a new captain in T20I Cricket. It is perhaps the best cricketer to ever come out of the country, Moises Henriques. This is a new direction for Portugal cricket as well as associate cricket.
Let’s talk about this exciting development
Moises Henriques will Lead Portugal
This is a homecoming for Moises Henriques. He was born in Funchal , Madeira. He was an infant and he moved to Australia. He practiced his cricket skills there and he even played for Australia for a number of years. Moises Henriques last played for Australia in 2021. He needed to have a 3 year cooling off period following which he would be eligible to play for Portugal. He has high ambitions to take Portugal to the mainstream. The appointment of Moises Henriques signals a shift to a player who has franchise and international cricket experience at the highest level. The previous captain Carlos Nunes is still an integral part of the Portugal Squad.
Portugal are a team that are in the C level of associate nations who play cricket. There are teams like Ireland, Zimbabwe, Namibia who will be in the A category associate nations. Then countries like USA, UAE, Italy, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Canada will fall in the B tier associate nations. The immediate goal for Moises Henriques should be to beat teams like Netherlands, Italy etc as they are in Europe. They need to play regular T20I Cricket and the aim for Moises Henriques should be to qualify for the 2030 T20I World Cup. Some of the other players in the Portugal Squad are the former captain Carlos Nunes, Craig Cochopa who is a former Sussex and Auckland Wicket keeper. Then Cameron Shekleton from South Africa A.
Moises Henriques has also played international cricket for Australia till 2021. He was an all rounder and he played for 12 years from 2009. Moises Henriques can use all that experience for Portugal but he is in the fag End of his career so he will have to achieve his goals quickly. The stats for Moises Henriques for Australia are as follows -
Moises Henriques Stats for Australia
Format | Matches | Runs | Batting Average | Highest Score | Wickets | Bowling Average | Best Bowling |
Test Cricket | 4 | 164 | 23.42 | 81 | 2 | 82.00 | 1/48 |
ODI Cricket | 16 | 117 | 9.00 | 22 | 8 | 43.37 | 3/32 |
T20I Cricket | 24 | 355 | 20.88 | 62* | 7 | 27.71 | 2/35 |
