5 Top Associate Cricketing Nations Of All Time

The Associate teams in cricket, in the past decade, have been roaring and have created enormous upsets over Full-Time Member Nations. Not only have the Associate teams won the hearts of many, they have also produced some of the most cool-headed cricketers in adverse situations.

We take a look at some of the best Associate teams from the past decade who have sprung surprises.

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#5 Scotland

Scotland became the Associate Members of the (ICC) International Cricket Council in 1994. Since then, they've played in three World Cups and three ICC World Twenty20 tournaments. They played their first One-day International against Australia in 1999 in a losing effort.

Their captain, Kyle Coetzer has played some of the most influential innings in One-day cricket. His highest score of 156 came against Bangladesh in the 2015 World Cup which led them to a mammoth score of 318. However, owing to Scotland not holding and capitalizing on to the chances, they ended up losing the match.

Scotland's first victory against a Test-playing nation came when they beat Zimbabwe in a rain-hit encounter. The win came on the back of yet another century from Coetzer. Scotland won the match by 26 runs with Zimbabwe chasing a revised target of 299 in 43 overs which had originally been 318 in 50 overs.

Scotland's most notable win till date in One-day Internationals was against England on 10th June 2018. Batting first, Scotland had bludgeoned a gigantic score of 371, spearheaded by MacLeod's breezy 140. England looked more than comfortable during their chase. Scotland sparked a comeback by taking the wickets of the middle order batsmen quite cheaply. Nevertheless, Liam Plunkett and Moeen Ali did keep them in the hunt with a 71-run partnership. However, England had been dismissed for 365, falling short of six runs to secure a nail-biting win.

#4 Kenya

Kenya surprised by reaching the semis in the 2003 World Cup

Although Kenya has fallen out of the radar, one couldn't deny the misery they had inflicted on the full member nations and that they were once the most formidable Associate nation. Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda had combined to form the East Africa cricket team, which became an associate member of ICC in 1966. In 1981, Kenya broke away and became an individual Associate member.

Steve Tikolo had been at the heart of a short-lived dominance of Kenya along with Maurice Odumbe and Thomas Odoyo. Steve Tikolo, till date, has the most wickets and scored the most runs for Kenya. In a group game in the 1996 World Cup, Kenya pulled off one of the greatest upsets by defeating West Indies by 93 runs, defending a mere 166.

In a span of five years, Kenya had under their belt, two victories in One-day Internationals against India. The first victory came in 1998 in a triangular series and the second victory came in a similar competition but in 2001. In the 2003 World Cup, Kenya cricket team touched a new high by beating Sri Lanka in a group game, owing to a 5-wicket burst by Collins Obuya. Eventually, they lost to India in the semi-final match.

In the subsequent years, Kenya cricket failed to capitalize on their World Cup success. The off-field setbacks also took place like Maurice Odumbe being banned for match-fixing in 2004 and a series of strikes by players. By 2005, Kenyan cricket had run out of sponsors and were on the verge of being quarantined. Kenya was last seen in the World Cup in 2011.

#3 The Netherlands

Players like Ryan ten Doeschate led to the rise of Netherlands

Cricket has been played in the Netherlands since at least the 19th century and in the 1860s, cricket was considered a major sport in the nation. Netherlands achieved the Associate Membership of the ICC in 1996. They have participated in the 1996, 2003, 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups.

The Netherlands have also been one of the impactful teams in cricket and have enjoyed the rivalry with Ireland. In the 2009 World Twenty20, they prevailed in a close shave against England by four wickets. They secured their first win against a full-member nation in 2010, beating Bangladesh convincingly by six wickets.

In the 2011 World Cup, Netherlands posted their highest total against a full member nation, scoring 292 against England while batting first. Ryan Ten Doeschate top scored with 119 off 110. Nevertheless, they failed to do the unthinkable and were unable to defend the score. England eventually won it by 6 wickets with a couple of overs to spare.

In the 2014 World Twenty20, for the Netherlands to go through to the super 10s, they had to chase Ireland's score in 14.2 overs or less. Ireland, batting first had piled on 189 which seemed less likely to be chased successfully. However, some explosive power hitting helped them to eclipse the score in 13.5 overs itself.

In the dead rubber against England in their last match in 2014 World Twenty20, Netherlands created yet another upset beating them by 45 runs. In reply to Netherlands's 133, England crashed to 88 all out with no batsman crossing even 20. Medium pacer Mudassar Bukhari and fast bowler Logan Verjues Van Been were the stars with three wickets each.

#2 Afghanistan

The rise of Afghanistan from a war-ravaged nation is inspiring

The Afghanistan cricket team is the twelfth Test cricket playing full member nation. The Afghanistan Cricket Board was formed in 1995 and became an affiliate member of ICC in 2001. On 22nd June 2017 along with Ireland, Afghanistan was granted a full ICC membership. Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Asghar Afgan, Mujeeb-Ur Rahman are some of the most prominent and well-known players from Afghanistan today. In January 2017, Afghanistan emerged victorious in the One-day series against Zimbabwe by beating them 3-2.

Afghanistan proved to be highly dominant in the T20I series held against Bangladesh in June 2018. Afghanistan secured a clean-sweep against them by a 3-0 margin. Rashid Khan, who had been sensational in the Indian Premier League prior to that had taken off from where he left. His exploits with the ball along with the rest of the spinners had Bangladesh on the back foot almost at all times.

Rashid Khan currently holds the second spot in the player rankings for bowlers in One-Day cricket and the top spot in Twenty20 cricket.

#1 Ireland

Ireland's rise has been phenomenal

The Ireland Cricket team is by far the most successful Associate team. Due to their successes in the Intercontinental Cup which is a first-class tournament for the Associates and at the World Cup, they were labelled the "leading Associate". They were awarded the Test status in June 2017. They have won the Intercontinental Cup four times, which is the most by any team.

Ireland played their first One-day International against England in a losing effort. However, Ireland put on a fairly good display in making a chase of 302. Ireland were also missing two of their integral players in Eoin Morgan and Niall O'Brien when they lost the match by 38 runs. Ireland has also been known to cause the hugest upsets in the biggest stages.

It all started with knocking Pakistan out of the World Cup 2007 in a group game in a low-scoring affair. Batting first, Pakistan had been skittled out for a paltry 132. Pakistan, however, kept picking wickets at regular intervals and it did seem like Ireland will succumb to the pressure. Niall O'Brien's half-century kept them in the hunt and made sure that Ireland completed a historic win.

The group game against England in World Cup 2011 at Bengaluru had witnessed the birth of Kevin O'Brien and his fireworks. Kevin O' Brien's fastest century in the World Cup enabled Ireland to seal the biggest successful chase in World Cup history, chasing 329. England who would have expected a walk in the park against the Irish, however, found themselves on the receiving end of the fastest century in World Cup history.

Ireland pulled off yet another upset in World Cup history by beating West Indies, chasing 305 in 2015. Out of five successful World Cup chases of 300 runs or more, Ireland has provided three; doing it against Netherlands, England and West Indies.

Ireland had their turn to play their inaugural Test cricket on 11th May 2018 against Pakistan. Kevin O'Brien, this time displayed a tremendous amount of patience and determination when Ireland had conceded a big first innings lead after being bowled out for 130, in reply to Pakistan's 310.

Pakistan seemed on their way to self-destruct after their jittery start to the chase of 160. However, Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam made sure that Pakistan won it by 5 wickets to avoid a fairy tale start to Test cricket for Ireland. They have continued to prove time and again that they belong very much to the international level and have taken giant strides on becoming the team to beat.