A team representing the British Gold Coast played its first recorded match in 1904, and international matches from 1907. Known as Ghana after independence in 1957, until recent times the majority of the team's matches came against other West African teams, and occasionally against touring English teams. In 1976, Ghana joined the West Africa Cricket Council, with Ghanaian players representing the West African cricket team in international tournaments.
CricketArchive records a team representing the Gold Coast, a British colony, as having played its first match in May 1904, against Lagos Colony (in present-day Nigeria). Similar fixtures were played in the following two seasons, with the venue alternating between Lagos and Accra. A team representing the Southern Nigeria Protectorate toured in April 1907. Similar matches were played again in 1911, 1912, and 1913, with the host alternating each year.[8] Although the sport had been introduced by British settlers, representative teams were multiracial from an early stage – the 1912 Gold Coast–Southern Nigeria fixture, the only pre-war match for which a scorecard is available, featured names like Otoo, Sagoe, Agbokpo, and Akufo (for Gold Coast), and Layode and Oseni (for Southern Nigeria). Gold Coast's Otoo took six wickets in Southern Nigeria's second innings, helping Gold Coast to an innings victory.[9] However, European-only matches were introduced around the same time, beginning in 1906 and ending only in 1956, the year before Ghanaian independence.[10] The Gold Coast's leading run-scorer in the inaugural European-only fixture was Gordon Guggisberg, who had earlier played a single first-class match (and was later Governor of the Gold Coast, from 1919 to 1927).[11][12]
After a long gap, inter-colonial matches resumed in April 1926, when the Gold Coast played the Nigerian national team in Lagos. Gold Coast–Nigeria fixtures, both multiracial and European-only, were played almost annually from 1926 to 1939, and resumed again after World War II.[8] In several years the European-only fixtures were played in provincial cities like Kumasi and Ibadan, although multiracial games were played only in the capitals.[10] Gold Coast sides were occasionally bolstered by players of first-class standard – for instance, Cecil Pullan (Oxford University and Worcestershire) and Michael Green (Gloucestershire and Essex) appeared together in a 1937 match,[13] with Pullan appearing again after the war.[14][15] The national side played its first match as "Ghana" less than a month after Kwame Nkrumah's independence declaration in March 1957, with annual Ghana–Nigeria matches occurring until 1964.[16]
West African era
A Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) side toured West Africa during the 1975–76 season, and played two matches at Accra's Achimota School in January 1976 – one against an Accra side and one against the Ghanaian national side.[17] The West Africa Cricket Council was formed later in 1976, with The Gambia and Sierra Leone joining Ghana and Nigeria as members. Consequently, with the exception of the quadrangular West African Championships, first held in 1976,[18] Ghanaian cricketers played international matches only for the combined West African team, which made its international debut at the 1982 ICC Trophy.[19] The West African side at the 1997 ICC Trophy was captained by Edinam Nutsugah, a Ghanaian.[20] At that tournament, another Ghanaian, Daniel Vanderpuje-Orgle, took 5/31 against Israel, one of only four five-wicket hauls at the tournament.[21][22] However, the West Africa Cricket Council lost significance in 2000, when Nigeria applied for separate membership of the ICC.[23] The council was disbanded in 2003, with its members having become ICC members the previous year – Gambia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone were made affiliate members, and Nigeria an associate member.[24]
2000-2018
A 2000 CricInfo article noted that cricket in Ghana was then confined to the south of the country, played only in the capital and the cities of Kumasi and Obuasi. It was also said to be particularly popular amongst the expatriate British and Indian populations, with the main club league featuring two Indian teams out of four total.[25] Ghana played its first ICC tournament in March 2004, defeating Malawi in a play-off to finish third (of eight teams) in the Africa Affiliates Tournament. That tournament was part of the qualification process for the 2007 World Cup.[26]The inaugural edition of the World Cricket League commenced in 2007, preceded by various regional qualifying tournaments. At the 2006 Africa Division Three qualifier, Ghana placed third behind Mozambique and Sierra Leone, again defeating Malawi in a third-place playoff.[27] The playoff was noted for the performance of Ghanaian player Peter Ananya (a future national captain), who took 7/25 to bowl Malawi out for 41.[28]
Ghana won the 2008 Africa Division Three tournament by defeating Swaziland in the final, having earlier bowled Rwanda out for 23 in their semi-final.[29][30] They were subsequently promoted to the 2008 Africa Division Two tournament, but could only place fifth from six teams.[31] This was enough, however, for Ghana to maintain its place for the 2010 Division Two event. At that tournament, they placed second to Zambia, securing entry to the 2012 Global Division Eight tournament.[32] The only African side at the eight-team tournament, played in Samoa, Ghana lost only two matches, both to Vanuatu, placing runner-up and qualifying for the 2013 Global Division Seven event. Three of the six sides there were African, the others being Nigeria and Botswana, the hosts. Ghana won only two matches, both against Germany, and were relegated back to the regional tournaments system.[33]
In August 2018, they were included in the 2018 Africa T20 Cup tournament.[38][39] However, Ghana declined Cricket South Africa's invite to compete in the tournament, and were replaced by Uganda.[40]
In 2021 Ghana was among five teams excluded from the ICC T20I Championship for failing to play enough fixtures in the relevant period, an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.[43]
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