The inaugural DTC Hong Kong T20 Blitz has ended with heavy overnight rain causing the abandonment of all three of Sunday’s matches including the final. Although Sunday was sunny, the pitch was waterlogged and unfit for play.
The rain had affected the opening two days of the tournament, but Saturday’s sold out and enthusiastic crowd showed both the players and the HK Cricket Association that the tournament has an exciting future.
The Warriors and Kowloon Cantons who were joint top of the points table at the end of day Two with a win and a no-result were declared joint winners of 2016’s T20 Blitz.
“The standard of cricket in the tournament was excellent, Cantons captain Scott McKechnie said. “The Warriors in particular were playing some very good cricket and I’m sure if we had a final today it would have been a very good game to watch. I think this weekend we’ve really put Hong Kong Cricket on the map, and it’s got great exposure for all the right reasons.”
Despite the disappointment of not playing the final, Warriors captain Jamie Atkinson echoed the thoughts of McKechnie in seeing the tournament’s bigger picture. “It was a great experience to get this tournament going anyway and get the best players in Hong Kong and the overseas talent to come in. At least we got some matches in at a good standard, hopefully next year it will be bigger and better.”
“It’s obviously a major disappointment to have today washed out but we need to look at the positives at what this event has achieved as a whole,” Hong Kong Cricket Association Tournament Chief Max Abbott said. “I need to thank the ground staff and volunteers for their help to do everything possible to get the ground ready for play. We’ll be back bigger and better next year – hopefully with a venue that is improved.”
T20 Blitz leading run scorer was Ryan Campbell (Kowloon Cantons) with 88 runs.
T20 Blitz leading wicket taker was Nadeem Ahmed (Island Warriors) with 4 wickets.
For all the tournament stats and results see here