In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Gambia and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 have the T20I status.[7]
History
Cricket was introduced to the Gambia by the British during the colonial period.[8] Gambia played against other British West African colonies from 1927, when they faced Sierra Leone for the first time.[3] From the 1960s Gambia also played regularly against Nigeria, and later in the West African Championships.[9]
Gambia was a member of the West Africa Cricket Council, which was an ICC member from 1976 to 2003, and fielded players in the West Africa cricket team until its dissolution. It became a member of the ICC in its own right in 2002.[3] Gambia's ICC debut came at the African affiliate championship in 2004 where they finished sixth. In 2006 they played in the equivalent tournament, Division Three of the African qualifiers for the ICC World Cricket League, this time finishing in seventh place.[10]
In 2021 Gambia 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.[11]
