Qatar national cricket team  The Qatar national cricket team is the team that represents the State of Qatar in international cricket. The team is organised by the Qatar Cricket Association, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1999 and an associate member in 2017. Qatar made its international debut in 1979, at an invitational tournament that also included Bahrain, Kuwait, and Sharjah (one of the United Arab Emirates). The team's first Asian Cricket Council (ACC) event was the 2002 ACC Trophy in Singapore. For a period during the 2000s, Qatar was one of the top-ranked non-Test teams in Asia – at the 2004 ACC Trophy, the team placed fourth. However, a few years later it was relegated to the second-division ACC events. Qatar made its first and only World Cricket League (WCL) appearance at the 2017 ICC World Cricket League Division Five event in South Africa. It placed third, enough to secure the team a place in the new 2019–21 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League. In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Qatar and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I. Qatar made its Twenty20 International debut on 21 January 2019, defeating Saudi Arabia by 4 wickets in the 2019 ACC Western Region T20 at Al Emarat Cricket Stadium, Muscat, Oman. Qatar's international debut came in 2002 at the ACC Trophy, where they failed to progress beyond the first round. A major improvement came in the next tournament in 2004 when they came fourth. This qualified them for the final pre-qualifying tournament for the 2005 ICC Trophy, played in Malaysia in early 2005. They finished fourth in that tournament, thereby dropping off the road to qualification to the 2007 World Cup. They once again competed at the ACC Trophy in 2006, this time finishing in eighth place. They will play in the new Champions division of that tournament in 2008. Qatar have fielded sides in regional competition at Under 15, Under 17 and Under 19 levels. The Qatar Under 15 team competed in Asia Cup tournaments in 2002, 2005 and 2006. They failed to progress beyond the first round on all occasions. Even after losing just one game (against Oman) in the group stage of the 2006 competition, they were not allowed to play in the semi-finals as they did not abide by the qualification rules. The Qatar Under 17 team competed in the Asia Cup for the first time in 2004, where they did not progress past the first round.