Cricket was introduced into Iran in the 1920s and 1930s by the British who were working in the oil industry but it died a death when the Iranians took over the oil industry. It was reintroduced in the late 1990s by Iranians returning to live at home after receiving an overseas education.
Iran joined the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in 2003.
The leading player and coach was Hossain Ali Saliman who was educated at Karachi university. Tehran has now four Clubs supported by ex-pats. However the clubs at Chah Bahar, Iranshahr, Zahedan and Mashhad are made up almost entirely of locals.
2007 was the golden year for women cricket in Iran, since the first Iranian women's cricket tournament was held and 3 Iranian women attended the umpiring course organised by the ACC in Malaysia.In Tehran, Kermanshah, Kerman and recently Sistan and Baluchistan, women's cricket has developed well.
Now there are five level-one male umpires and many more umpires at other levels including both men and women.
There are male players at all age groups and adult female players.
According to local sources, Dr. Rezaali, vice president of cricket federation of Iran, has organized many effective programs to develop cricket in Iran. The most important program was to introduce cricket to the Iranian people. TV programs, brochures and posters were provided and a cricket website launched by the help from important cricketers: Zaven Babakhani, Mohammad-Sadeq Abdizadeh. The website address is http://irancricket.pib.ir/
The best players Men: 1. Nariman Bakhtiyar 2. Zaven Babakhani 3. Mohammad-Sadeq Abdizadeh
Women: 1. Azadeh Guilany 2. Somayeh Lashany Zand 3. Leila Shirnia
