As a former British colony, cricket has been played in Singapore almost continuously since the mid 1800s. What began as a favourite past-time for naval officers of visiting ships quickly evolved into a more widespread extracurricular activity. The Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) was formed in 1852, and it played matches against other teams from British Malaya. An invitation in 1890 from Hong Kong led to the creation of the ‘Straits Settlements’ team that year. This team played in Hong Kong, Burma, Bangkok, Jakarta, and even Ceylon in what were the earliest iterations of the longstanding ‘Interport Series.’ The team first played the Federated States of Malaya in 1896 in a series now known as the Saudara (meaning relative or brethren in Malay) Cup.

Singapore has a rich and longstanding tradition of participation in ICC events, albeit with variable success. In six ICC Trophies between 1974 and 2001, Singapore won only five matches. Since the mid noughties, Singapore has been an efficient and difficult opponent across ACC and ICC competition, combining a core of talented youngsters coming out of the national development program with experienced subcontinental immigrant pros. Perennially in the shadow of more teams such as Hong Kong, Nepal, and the UAE, Singapore appears to have broken that glass ceiling in the last few years.

A demolishing of the Sandeep Lamichhanne-boasting Nepal side at the ICC T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier in 2019 saw Singapore progress to the Global Qualifier for the first time, where they also claimed the scalps of Scotland and Bermuda.

The SCA was forced to vacate the Kallang Cricket Ground (its home ground) in 2016 after its lease was not renewed by the Sports Singapore. Since then the SCA has had to rely on private associations for training and playing space. Despite this, participation levels in domestic cricket and junior cricket remain high and today, Singapore can claim to be one of the top men’s sides outside the Test arena in Asia.