Former Australia all-rounder Moises Henriques will captain Portugal as they try and qualify for the T20 World Cup for the primary time.Henriques, who performed 4 Assessments, 16 ODIs and 24 T20Is for Australia, will lead Portugal’s 14-member squad on the T20 World Cup Europe Sub-Regional Qualifier C in Finland.The Portuguese Cricket Federation introduced the squad on Tuesday, with Henriques named captain. He was born in Madeira, the hometown of Portugal soccer captain Cristiano Ronaldo, earlier than his household moved to Australia when he was a baby.Henriques performed 24 T20Is, 16 ODIs and 4 Assessments for Australia. His final worldwide look got here in August 2021, when he performed a T20I towards Bangladesh. He grew to become eligible to signify Portugal in June after finishing the required three-year cooling-off interval for gamers switching from an ICC Full Member to an Affiliate nation.Henriques introduced final month that he was retiring from Australian home cricket however would proceed taking part in abroad. He has a contract with Glasgow Cosmic for the inaugural season of the European T20 Premier League. On Monday, he was additionally named Portugal’s captain for his or her T20 World Cup qualifying marketing campaign in Finland.Portugal are ranked thirty seventh within the ICC males’s T20I rankings. They’ll face Israel, Germany, Greece and Czechia in Group B of the T20 World Cup Europe Sub-Regional Qualifier C from August 14 to twenty. The group winner will face the winner of Group A within the ultimate on August 21.The winner of the qualifier will advance to the European regional ultimate, the place Scotland, Jersey and Denmark will be a part of them. The highest two groups from the regional ultimate will then qualify for the worldwide qualifier as they bid to succeed in the 2028 T20 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.Portugal’s squad additionally options Craig Cachopa, the previous Sussex, Auckland and Wellington wicketkeeper-batter; Cameron Shekleton, who has represented South Africa A; Sebastian de Oliveira, who performed one Record A match for Gauteng alongside Ryan Rickelton; and Bangladesh-born spinner Siraj Ullah Khadem, who was included within the longlist for this yr’s Hundred public sale.Henriques takes over the captaincy from Carlos Nunes, who captains Twickenham within the Middlesex County Cricket League in England. Nunes stays a part of the 14-member squad.Portugal squad: Moises Henriques (capt), Craig Cachopa, Edward Fleming, Christopher de Freitas, Rahulkumar Hashu, Siraj Ullah Khadem, Hardeep Khuttan, Jeremy Martins, Dhavalkumar Norotam (wk), Jordan Netto, Carlos Nunes, Sebastian de Oliveira, Upen Shantu, Cameron Shekleton.Portugal fixtures: vs Israel (August 14), vs Germany (August 15), vs Greece (August 17), vs Czechia (August 20), Ultimate (August 21).
