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Tammy Chu Accepted onto ICC Cricket Future Leaders Programme

Congratulations to Hong Kong’s Tammy Chu one of the 40 women, from 29 ICC Member countries, selected to be mentored as part of the ICC Cricket Future Leaders Programme.

The program is designed to support emerging female talent in cricket, accelerate the growth of women’s cricket and women in cricket and address the low percentage of women in leadership positions across global cricket. The initial intake will be split into two batches with the hope to build a pipeline of new female leaders in cricket.

image: takumi photography

Cricket Hong Kong Launches Weeknight Indoor League

It’s hot, humid and stormy outside at the moment, not the best of conditions to play cricket. However, if you still want to put bat on ball this summer then sign-up for the new Cricket Hong Kong Indoor Cricket League!

The new indoor tournament will be played on weekday evenings during July at the Hong Kong Cricket Club and Craigengower Cricket Club.

If you would like to enter a team or join a team contact [email protected] by 9 June, 2021.

HK Cricket: Match Reports 16-18 September, 2016

National Players star in Domestic Cricket as Premier League gets underway.

A sunny Mid-Autumn long weekend saw the Hong Kong domestic cricket season start with a flourish of willow. Hong Kong’s national players, including Babar Hayat and Tanveer Ahmad, all performed well for their clubs to show how they have improved with a summer of training and international cricket.

Premier League 1-Day

Little Sai Wan v Pakistan Association
In the season opener for the Premier League, Little Sai Wan (DLSW) defeated Pakistan Association (PACC) with nine wickets to spare.

Batting first, PACC was all out with 120 runs, led by Balal Muhammad (31) and Ahsan Abbasi Ali (26).

DLSW’s Hong Kong spinner Nadeem Ahmed (2/10) chipped in with two wickets, while Niaz Ali (3/30) and Mudassar Hussain (3/11) contributed to keep PACC’s batting in check and deliver a very makable target.

DLSW’s response was led by Hong Kong Captain Babar Hayat, who scored the season’s first century with exactly 100 runs off 48 balls. It only took 15 and a half overs for DLSW to take their opening victory of the season.
Scorecard: www.crichq.com/#matches/429107/1st_innings

Kowloon Cricket Club v Hong Kong Cricket Club
In the second Premier League match of the day, Kowloon Cricket Club beat Hong Kong Cricket Club in Wong Nai Chung Gap by 7 wickets.

HKCC’s Courtney Kruger scored 45 off 44 balls to lead the team, while James Redmayne added 34 runs as KCC’s Hong Kong bowlers Waqas Barkat (3/23) and Tanveer Ahmad (3/43) limited HKCC to 151 all out.

KCC’s chase was opened by Hong Kong youngsters Aizaz Khan (33 off 35) and Ninad Shah (11). Former Hong Kong skipper Jamie Atkinson’s 63 and Waqas Barkat’s 33 fast-forwarded the chase and brought the away victory at the 27th over.

HKCC’s Isaac Poole took three wickets for 34 runs.
Scorecard: www.crichq.com/#matches/429111/1st_innings

Championship League Division A

KCC Saracens v KCC Crusaders
In the Kowloon Cricket Club derby, the Saracens beat the Crusaders behind two century-makers.

Batting first, Saracens’ opener and Hong Kong player Chris Carter scored 102 runs off 77 balls. Sunny Bhimsaria also knocked 102 runs. Deepinder Singh added 31 to bring the total to a massive 265/5.

Aditya Kanthan was the best bowler for the Crusaders with 3/32. He was also the highest scorer during their chase with 33 runs. Damian Kelleher added 22 runs but it was not enough. They finished the innings with 136/8.
Scorecard: www.crichq.com/#matches/428457/1st_innings

Taipan Sky Warriors v HKCC Gap Ramblers
Hong Kong Cricket Club Gap Ramblers started their title defence by beating Taipan Sky Warriors at home with six wickets to spare.

Sky Warriors batted first and were all out for 145. Gap Ramblers’ Satyendra Singh was the top bowler with 3/15, while Tom Ingram and Charles McInerney each took two wickets.

In response, the middle-order batsmen for the Gap Ramblers led the charge. Stuart Tohill scored 44 off 45 balls, while Isaac Poole added an efficient 43 off 23 balls to the victory.
Scorecard: www.crichq.com/#matches/428656/1st_innings

HKCC Nomads v KCC Tartars
The Hong Kong Cricket Club Nomads beat the Kowloon Cricket Club Tartars in a closely contested match.

The Tartars batted first and scored one run short of 200. Former Hong Kong Captain Najeeb Amar scored 58 off 47 balls, while Muhammad Khan added a half century. They batted through their innings with 199/8. Daljeet Singh of the Nomads took three wickets while S Bhojwani took two.

Nomads’ opener S Ayer led the chase with 79 off 62 balls before being caught out in the 21st over. They were at 113/2. D Singh scored 61 to bring the total within reach, with 190/4 in the 32nd over. A Claire and C White finished the chase with nine balls left in the game.
Scorecard: www.crichq.com/#matches/428828/1st_innings

HKCC Witherers v KCC Crusaders
Hong Kong Cricket Club Witherers won by 25 runs at home against Kowloon Cricket Club Crusaders.

Witherers batted first and provided a balanced team effort. Four batsmen reached double figures, including M Ashton (44), J Warby (43), T Whisker (39*) and L Ginnivan (21). 181 was their total. Crusaders’ Aditya Kanthan continued his good form from Saturday with 2/33. Ruan DeBruin bowled two for 43.

Crusaders’ Damian Kelleher (39) and Dylan Dearing (38) gave the Crusaders a good chance of victory, but their teammates did not do enough to do that. Witherers’ Tim Whisker took four wickets for 40 runs in seven overs.
Scorecard: www.crichq.com/#matches/428661/1st_innings

Championship League Division B

Pioneers CC v University of Hong Kong Cricket Club
The University of Hong Kong Cricket Club beat Pioneers comfortably to get two wins in a row.

Pioneers chose to bat first but they did not perform well. They could only score 23 runs all out. Six HKU bowlers took one wicket each.

In response, HKU only needed 14 balls to get the victory.
Scorecard: www.crichq.com/#matches/428658/1st_innings

DLSW Sarjan v Centaurs Cricket Club
Little Sai Wan Sarjan beat Centaurs Cricket Club by a massive 130 runs, behind Aftab Hussain’s century.

Batting first, Sarjan’s opener Aftab Hussain only needed 73 balls to reach 105 runs, while his opening partner Haseeb Muhammad scored 50. Haroon Arshad added another 80 to help Sarjan reached 279.

Centaurs’ opening batsman G Raj started the chase with 47 runs. Rizwan Masood (38) and Keith Frith (35*) tried close the gap, but the target was proved to be too high.

Sarjan’s Saqib Mahmood was the bowler of the match with 2/18 in seven overs.
Scorecard: www.crichq.com/#matches/428660/1st_innings

Additional reporting and photo: HK Cricket Association

HK Cricket Match Reports: 10-11 September, 2016

Heavy rain over the weekend meant only two matches could go ahead in the domestic leagues.

Saturday 10 September: Championship Division B

Hong Kong University Cricket Club v Lamma Cricket Club
HK University Cricket Club beat Lamma Cricket Club by 46 runs in the shortened Championship Division B league-opener.

Opener Chamila Panduwawala was the star of HKU’s innings, posting a very efficient 80* off 46 balls. Ankit Suri scored 31 runs before he was caught in the 12th over. HKU finished the 15-over innings with 152/3. Lamma’s B. McDonald led their bowlers with 1/17.

Lamma’s response did not start well, losing two wickets in the first three overs. C. Davies scored a team-high 35 runs before being dismissed in the ninth over. HKU’s John Wright and Mohammad Ali each took two wickets and ensured that Lamma could only score 106 after their 15 overs. Scorecard: https://www.crichq.com/#matches/426775/1st_innings

Sunday 11 September: Elite League Division A

Hong Kong Cricket Club Scorpions v Kowloon Cricket Club Infidels
On Sunday, HKCC Scorpions beat KCC Infidels by two wickets in the Elite League Division A.

Opener David Varley led the way for the Scorpions with 74 runs, while James Redmayne scored 64. They scored 282 runs with two wickets to spare.

Ateequi Iqbal and Suhaib Ahmad each took three wickets for the Infidels.

In response, Imran Arif knocked 44 runs, while Sunny Bhimsaria and Simandeep Singh each scored 35 runs for KCC Infidels. But attacks from HKCC’s Isaac Poole (3/27), Matt Rafter (2/33) and Anton Buntin (2/11) made sure that the Infidels were all out with only 186 runs.
Scorecard: https://www.crichq.com/#matches/427952/1st_innings

Additional reporting: HK Cricket

Scotland Win the Braidwood Cup

Hong Kong lost the final match of their Tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Scotland scoring a 53-run win in the Second One Day International.

After Thursday’s washout of the first ODI – it meant Scotland won the series and claimed the Braidwood Cup.

Chasing Scotland’s 266-7, Hong Kong had reached 139-2 after 30 overs, but with the required rate creeping up wickets fell and the visitors were dismissed for 213 in the 47th over.

Babar Hayat (56) and Nizakat Khan (42) were again the linchpins of Hong Kong’s innings but didn’t get the support required.

Earlier, Scotland recovered from 144-5 after 32 overs to post an above par score thanks to a century from Calum Macleod (102) and a run-a-ball 52 from Craig Wallace.

Wickets were shared among the Hong Kong bowlers with Tanveer Ahmed (2-50) the only multiple wicket-taker.

Hong Kong now return home, with their next assignment a three-game ODI series against Papua New Guinea in November, which will be held in Mong Kok.

Babar Hayat:
“We got a good start with the run chase, Nizakat and I were playing nicely and then we collapsed. They took two really good catches and saved a lot of singles and twos which we didn’t do, that was the big difference for me. The way we bowled in the middle was brilliant but we let ourselves down in the field in the last 10 overs.”

“Nizakat or myself needed to stay there until the end, we were playing patiently but those catches turned the game.”

“Overall we’ve played really well on this tour – we brought a lot of young guys and are missing key players. So it’s a learning process for us and we will be a lot better for the experience. We competed in every game, won the T20 series against Ireland and Nizakat’s form was outstanding.”

“We need to work on our fielding, in every game we gave away 20-30 runs and today it put us under a lot of pressure so that is something we have to work on.”

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket Association, Cricinfo

Bad Light Thwarts Hong Kong Run Chase in Scotland

Hong Kong produced another performance to be proud of on their Tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland, but bad light denied a great finish against Scotland in Edinburgh.

With just two overs remaining Hong Kong were 136-4, requiring 18 off 12 balls to win, when umpires decided light was not good enough to get a fair result. Being a One Day International (50 over) match – which had already been reduced to 20 overs a side – the failure to complete the minimum overs meant the game ended in a no result.

It came after a miraculous fight back from Hong Kong after Scotland, who raced to 96-1 after 8.4 overs, were restricted to 153-6 after 20. Debutant Ehsan Khan (2-28) became just the 23rd player in history to take a wicket with his first ball in ODI cricket.

In reply, Nizakat Khan was in red hot form again – backing up his scores of 69, 123 and 62 against Ireland – with 43 off 26 balls.

Hong Kong were cruising in the run chase at 124-2 with four overs to go, but the rapidly fading light and the loss of Anshuman Rath (32) and Babar Hayat (26) in successive balls raised the tension.

The second and final match of the series will be played on Saturday night with the winner to take home the Braidwood Cup.

Simon Cook:
“It was the right decision to come off the field but the decision should have been made six overs prior as it was significantly dark then. And that was further away from a result when neither team could claim to be unhappy.”

“The umpires asked our batters if they could see the ball and our guys said it was tough and then Scotland were told they couldn’t bowl fast bowlers. So towards the end they could just bowl slow to have shot at getting in to contention and once we hit a boundary and a few singles they brought the fast bowler on. The umpires handled the game brilliantly other than that but they held on for a decision too long with the light in my opinion.”

“It was a good performance – we were slow off the blocks and they got some momentum. Then we got back into the game once we got new batsmen in.”

“We are playing some really good cricket – well at least for 75% of the game, which is allowing us to compete but not allowing us to dominate and get right on top.”

“We looked in control a long way through this chase but with the conditions getting worse, it meant any new batter was going to take a while to get settled in.”

Additional reporting and image: HK Cricket Association

HK Cricket Match Report: 2016-17 Season Opening Weekend

The 2016-17 domestic cricket season got underway and the opening weekend’s results were headlined by a historic victory to the Cricket Hong Kong Sportsroad Dragons, who secured their first ever victory in the Elite League.

Playing against Sri Lanka Cricket Club, the Dragons were dismissed for 227, which they posted largely thanks to captain Damien Yee’s 91 off 129 balls. He shared a 119-run partnership with Anthony Marrin, who scored 40. The last six wickets fell for just 17 runs, which meant the Dragons only batted 46.3 of their alloted overs. Mukhtar Ahmad took 4-44, which included the key wickets of Yee and Marin.

In response, SLCC were cruising at 160-2 after just 23 overs with Akbar Khan smashing 73 off 69 balls. But his dismissal triggered a collapse as the Dragons dismissed SLCC for 212. Opening bowler Henry Siu took 3-36, including the last wicket to fall.
Scorecard – https://www.crichq.com/#matches/425297/1st_innings

In Division 1, Hong Kong Cricket Club Wanderers triumphed in a tight match against Pakistan Association.

Pakistan Association batted first but were rarely able to get their innings going with Ahsan Ali (59 off 79) the only batsman to score over 25. Angus Robson took 4-30 and Chris White 4-38 as Pakistan Association were dismissed in the 38th over for 150.

But they made a strong response with the ball, reducing HKCC to 37-4 and 72-5 to make for a nervy chase. But from there Stuart Tohill (65*) and Ravi Mulchandani (35*) guided the Wanderers to the target in the 46th over.
Scorecard – https://www.crichq.com/#matches/425301/1st_innings

The other match of the weekend was played on Saturday in the Championship League Division 2 where Diasqua Little Saiwan had a comfortable win over the Centaurs.

The Centaurs were knocked over for just 97 with Suresh Ghevariya (4-11) and Anik Shah (3-17) doing the bulk of the damage.

Despite losing a couple of early wickets, DLSWCC reached the target in just the 16th over with six wickets to spare.
Scorecard – https://www.crichq.com/#matches/425654/1st_innings

The Championship League Division 1 between KCC Tartars and CCC Jing Sun was washed out.

Nizakat’s Hot Streak Continues as Hong Kong Win by 40 Runs

Hong Kong defeated Ireland by 40 runs in the first of a two-game Twenty20 International series at Bready Cricket Club in Londonderry.

Carrying on from his outstanding form in the Intercontinental Cup game in Belfast last week, Nizakat Khan’s 62 off 43 balls led the way for Hong Kong as they posted 169-5 from 20 overs.

In response, Tanwir Afzal’s opening spell of 2-18 gave Ireland to much work to do in the last 10 as they were dismissed for 129.

It was the onslaught in the opening overs from Nizakat, whose innings included 7 fours and 2 sixes that set the tone as Hong Kong raced to 63-1 after the first six overs.

Nizakat then combined with Babar Hayat (49 off 31) for a 56-run second wicket partnership that took Hong Kong to 97-2 in the 12th over. Ehsan Khan provided the finishing touches with 29 off 22 balls to lead Hong Kong to an above-par total.

In reply Tanwir Afzal bowled four straight overs at the top of the innings and took 2-18 to leave Ireland reeling at 34-4 after 6 overs.

The Irish mounted a charge through Greg Thompson (44 off 32) and Kevin O’Brien (32 off 24) but the required rate proved too much as Hong Kong ran out easy winners. Aizaz Khan finished with 3-10.

Match Two: 6 September 10.30pm (HK time).

https://youtu.be/H_vDgrj04V0

Highlights: Ireland v Hong Kong 1st T20i (https://youtu.be/H_vDgrj04V0)

Simon Cook
“It’s good to get off and running and particularly against Ireland who are a strong side. The boys played well. Getting off to a decent start, which is something that has dogged us for the last few games, helped with a change in the batting order at the top with Nizakat going in. To get 60 off the first six overs was outstanding and Babar carried it on.

“If you want to level criticise Nizikat it’s been about his consistency, so to bat well in both innings in the four-day game and come here and start hitting with calmness and a solid base is a credit to him. Pleased to see some genuine consistency coming along. Opening is a different role for him, which he practiced in Sri Lanka recently and did well.”

Babar Hayat
“I think the pleasing thing was that everyone contributed. It was a team effort and everyone did their job. Really pleased with how I played – luckily I got a free hit at the start of my innings, which gave me some momentum. First win as Captain and just really proud to get the win for Hong Kong and really proud of my teammates – it will be a good lift to our fans at home. It’s pleasing to get the win but we need to work on our fielding – we were sloppy today but we can come back tomorrow and fix that.”

Additional reporting: HK Cricket Association, Scorecard: Cricinfo