bc magazine

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.

Rath Leads Hong Kong at ACC Emerging Nations Cup

Captain Anshuman Rath returns to lead Hong Kong at the ACC Emerging Nations Cup, a round robin tournament, that’s being jointly hosted by Sri Lanka and Pakistan from 6-15 December.

Rath, who missed the recent South China Cup defeat to Papua New Guinea, returns with Hong Kong drawn in Group B alongside Pakistan, Bangladesh and UAE. Group B will be played in Pakistan. India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Oman are in Group A with their matches being played in Sri Lanka.

Looking ahead to the tournament Hong Kong coach Simon Cook said “The recent tour to PNG and return series in Hong Kong has been really good for Hong Kong Cricket as a whole. We have seen players like Waqas Khan and Ghazanfer Mohammad really take steps forward and start to own their place in the side which starts to strengthen the playing squad. There is now fierce competition for places within the starting 11.”

“The Emerging Nations tournament is another great chance to learn and bench mark ourselves as a team and as individuals which is critically important for us with the World Cricket League Division 2 tournament coming up in April next year,” continued Cook.

Chairman of Selectors Tabarak Dar added “The Tournament will provide Hong Kong some great opportunities to play against some quality teams.”

The top 2 in each group progress to the semi-finals and finals to be played in Sri Lanka. Hong Kong, Oman and UAE will field national sides while the ‘test nations’ will be fielding U-23 sides, with 4 over-age players permitted per team.

Group A: Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, India, Oman
Group B: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates

ACC Emerging Nations Cup

Thu 6-Dec	Pakistan vs Hong Kong at NSK, Karachi Bangladesh vs UAE at SG, Karachi
Fri 7-Dec	Sri Lanka vs Oman at RPICS, Colombo India vs Afghanistan at CCC, Colombo Pakistan vs UAE at NSK, Karachi Bangladesh vs Hong Kong at SG, Karachi
Sat 8-Dec	Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan at CCC, Colombo India vs Oman at RPICS, Colombo
Sun 9-Dec	Pakistan vs Bangladesh at NSK, Karachi UAE vs Hong Kong at SG, Karachi
Mon 10-Dec	Sri Lanka vs India at RPICS, Colombo Afghanistan vs Oman at CCC, Colombo
Tue 11-Dec	Rest Day
Wed 12-Dec	Rest Day
Thu 13-Dec	SF1: B1 v A2 at RPICS, Colombo SF2: A1 v B2 at CCC, Colombo
Fri 14-Dec	Rest Day
Sat 15-Dec	FINAL: SF1 winner v SF2 winner at RPICS, Colombo

Hong Kong Squad

Anshuman Rath (Captain) Hong Kong Cricket Club
Aizaz Khan (Vice Captain) Kowloon Cricket Club
Nizakat Khan – Hong Kong Cricket Club
Raag Kapur – Hong Kong Cricket Club
Kinchit Shah – Hong Kong Cricket Club
Babar Hayat – Pakistan Association Cricket Club
Waqas Khan- Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Ehsan Nawaz – Pakistan Association Cricket Club
Ehsan Khan – Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Ghazanfer Mohammad – Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Tanwir Afzal – Pakistan Association Cricket Club
Tanveer Ahmed – Hong Kong Cricket Club
Hassan Mohammad – Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Shahid Wasif – Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Haroon Arshad – Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club

Reserves:
Nasrullah Rana – Pakistan Association Cricket Club
Aftab Hussain – Diasqua Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Hamed Khan – Pakistan Association Cricket Club

Additional reporting and images: Cricket HK, ACC

HK Beat UAE to Qualify for Asia Cup

In a rain-affected final of the Asia Cup Qualifier 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong beat the United Arab Emirates by two wickets (DLS method) to book their place in the Asia Cup.

A fine five-for from Aizaz Khan first helped Hong Kong restrict UAE to 176/9 in 24 overs, the innings affected by a long rain break, before Hong Kong found enough contributors right through their chase to get to their revised target of 179 with three balls left.

Hong Kong captain Anshuman Rath won the toss and elected to bowl first in the cloudy and humid conditions. A bigly game for both teams with the winners guaranteed a place in the Asia Cup – in the group with Pakistan and India.

The UAE innings – a two-part affair, of 15.2 overs first and then 8.4 overs, broken by a long interruption because of rain and a wet outfield – started well with the opening pair of Ashfaq and Suri negating the early movement making their way past 50 in the first 12 overs.

Tanwir Afzal made the initial breakthrough with an excellent delivery hitting the top of off stump to dismiss Suri leaving UAE 52-1. Aizaz Khan was bought into the attack and had made an immediate impression dismissing the UAE captain Mustafa for an 8 ball duck and Shahzad for 2 before play was halted for almost 4 hours with UAE on 65-3 off 15.2 overs.

The rain delay saw the match reduced to 24 overs per side. After the restart Ashfaq and Anwar attacked the Hong Kong bowlers with a number of boundaries struck with Ehsan Khan being targeted on a flat Kinrara wicket. Nadeem Ahmed made the breakthrough dismissing Anwar for 22 and Ashfaq who top scored with 79. A flurry of wickets and boundaries saw UAE through to 176-9 off their allotted 24 overs. Aizaz Khan was magnificent in taking 5-28 to lead the seam attack on a flat batting wicket.

Hong Kong, with the benefit of knowing their target and the number of overs at their disposal, started well with Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath, two of their most pedigreed batsmen. The two added 64 runs in just six overs to put Hong Kong in front before Rohan Mustafa had Nizakat’s number, sending him back for a 20-ball 38.

Then followed a good phase for UAE as Babar Hayat and Kinchit Shah followed Nizakat to the pavilion to leave the scoreboard reading 68/3, which became 82/4 in the 10th over when Ahmed Raza bowled Rath for 28.

The UAE were in front at that stage, but Christopher Carter (33 in 32 balls) and Ehsan Khan (29 in 24) made sure the game was back on an even keel with a 53-run stand for the fifth wicket. A dramatic game took another turn when Carter was run out and Mohammad Naveed struck twice in one over to leave Hong Kong at a precarious 147/7.

The closer the Hong Kong team got to the target the more the drama unfolded. Ehsan Khan and Aizaz Khan departed with 33 still needed and. The experienced duo of Tanwir Afzal and Scott McKechnie came together and played with a great deal of courage and experience to continue to whittle away at the target. The danger man for UAE (Naveed) returned to bowl his final over with the game in the balance. A full blooded pull for 6 by Afzal was followed by an audacious scoop over fine leg by McKechnie to leave 12 runs required with 12 balls remaining.

The dismissal of Afzal off the last ball of the 23rd over left Hong Kong needing 3 to win off the final 6 balls with 2 wickets remaining. The first ball offered the chance of a run out at the non-strikers end which was missed…… 2 off 5 needed. McKechnie looking to finish with glory missed his pull shot but scampered a single to 3rd Man…… 1 off 4 needed. The winning run saw the batsman scamper through for a bye after the keeper fumbled the ball standing back… Hong Kong win by 2 wickets with 3 balls remaining and qualify for the Asia Cup!

Hong Kong will now prepare for their Asia Cup opener against Pakistan, to be played in Dubai on 16 September, followed by the fixture against India, also in Dubai, on 18 September.

Hong Kong captain Anshuman Rath, acknowledged UAE’s efforts “The UAE batsmen batted tremendously well after the rain delay. To get that many runs in 10 overs is no joke on any ground. The momentum was with them, but we knew it was a good wicket. Games like that can go either way, so credit to UAE for playing such an awesome game. We knew we had the batting firepower to chase it down, and luckily that happened.”

UAE’s coach, Dougie Brown, was understandably very disappointed at the result. He said: “Gutted doesn’t even come close to describing the feeling right now. I think the guys deserve a hell of a lot of credit for the way they fought. We didn’t get everything right. We maybe didn’t bowl as well as we can do. We maybe didn’t field quite as well as we know we can, but to get into the position we did, to get into the position where we had the total to defend we ended up with, was a phenomenal effort. Credit to Hong Kong, they won some critical moments in a game of very fine margins.”

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket, ICC

Hong Kong Beat Afghanistan at ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers

Hong Kong resurrected their ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier campaign with an historic triumph over Afghanistan in Bulawayo. The 30-run win was the first ever victory for Hong Kong over a Test playing nation in the One Day International format.

Results in other matches now mean Hong Kong can guarantee a passage through to the Super Six stage with one win in their remaining two matches against Zimbabwe and then Nepal.

After being dismissed for just 91 against Scotland in their opening encounter, Hong Kong’s batsmen produced a much improved performance against an Afghanistan team containing the world’s top ranked bowler, Rashid Khan.

Cameos from Nizakat Khan (28) and Babar Hayat (31) got Hong Kong’s innings going but the starts meant the innings threatened to lack substance at one stage 4-93 in the 24th over.

But 20-year-old Anshuman Rath showed great determination to hold the innings together as he compiled 65 off 90 balls from number five in the order. That allowed the lower order to chip in around him but it was the final overs assault from Tanwir Afzal (22 off 9 balls) who lifted the Hong Kong target to a more imposing mark of 241-8.

In reply it was Tanwir (1-37) who gave Hong Kong the early breakthrough but at 56-1 Afghanistan were trundling along steadily in pursuit of 242 when Ehsan was brought on from the clubhouse end in the 16th over. With loop and flight, he tempted Rahmat Shah into an expansive drive. With dip and turn, he spun the ball sharply in between bat and pad to disturb the stumps. With that, Afghanistan were 56 for 2, and Hong Kong had their opening. Before his first over was up, Ehsan had also dismissed the set Ihsanullah for 20, a gloved sweep landing in the hands of Rath, tumbling to his left at slip.

The pressure built up by the bowlers brought desperate strokes and with the required rate closing in on six an over, Samiullah Shenwari bent low to sweep Ehsan but missed the ball entirely to be bowled for 9, as Afghanistan slipped to 73 for 4.

From there Hong Kong continued to keep the scoreboard pressure on and the climbing rate brought more wickets when rain intervened at 7-167. Play did resume but Afghanistan only had 18 balls to chase a revised target 226.

Eshan later picked up a fourth wicket as Afghanistan were held to 195-9 and for his career best figures of 4 for 33, Ehsan was named Man of the Match.

Hong Kong coach Simon Cook said “We sat down after the Scotland game an had an honest chat and the players got together as a group and talked about what they needed to do to beat Afghanistan. Each individual identified how they were going to play and what impact they wanted to have and executed that in training yesterday. The pitch spun a lot and so it’s a credit to how our guys nullified their spin options. We trained with purpose and got results.”

“240 was about par, however the pitch – spun quickly and a lot so it was a challenge for anyone going out there. We learnt from the experience of playing Rashid in Hong Kong in November and it was hugely pleasing to see the improvement.” Cook continued “We had a World T20 victory against Bangladesh which stands out as our biggest – today was great but it is only one game in a tournament that means so much so we will enjoy it tonight and then refocus quickly for Zimbabwe.”

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket

ICC World T20 Asia Qualifier: Hong Kong Beat Malaysia by 35 Runs

Hong Kong batting first rallied strongly from 11/4 to score 77/7 in their 20 overs and bowled Malaysia out for 42 to win their opening ICC World T20 Asia Qualifier match by 35 runs.

Hong Kong, who won the the toss, chose to bat first on an overcast day at the Asiatic Institute of Technology in Bangkok. A delayed start did not dampen the occasion, as Keenu Gill and Yasmin Daswani took strike to start the tournament for the Red Dragons.

On what was a good wicket, it became evidently clear it would be a difficult game with the Malaysian attack bowling well from the outset. Winifred Duraisingam and Zayani Syamimi applied pressure to the Hong Kong top order up with some good stump to stump bowling making in the opening power play

The tough early batting conditions and a very slow outfield made scoring hard. In the 3^rd over with Hong Kong on 7 for no loss, Zayani Syamimi had Gill given out LBW for 4. In came in-form captain Mariko Hill who departed for a golden duck on her birthday after a low full toss found the top edge whilst sweeping and was well caught by the keeper going backwards.

With Hong Kong seeking some stability at 7-2, Kary Chan came to the crease and looked busy while scoring a couple of singles, however, her demise came in the next over through a sharp catch at cover. Shanzeen Shahzad joined Daswani at the crease looking to create a lasting partnership but Syamimi once again firmly put Malaysia in the driving seat with another catch coming from a mishit to mid-off to leave Hong Kong in deep trouble at 10/4 after 5.3 overs.

Daswani and new batswoman Jenefer Davies started to rebuild Hong Kong’s innings finding gaps and running hard pushing the score to 24 before Dawwani was bowled by Jannadiah Halim, 24-5 after 9 overs.

Davies was joined by Natural Yip and both players combined well taking singles and putting pressure on the Malaysian bowlers. Both batters saw out the 2^nd half of the innings punishing the bad ball and testing the arms of the Malaysian fielders. Yip was bowled for 18 by Syamimi in the 19th over -71-6.

The return of Duraisingam saw Davies well caught by Syamimi for a game changing 29 from 36 balls. Marina Lamplough saw off the final two balls to see Hong Kong finish on 77-7 off 20 overs.

Betty Chan (4-1-9-1) and Mariko Hill (2-0-6-1) opened the bowling against the Malaysians who had a tough time against the combination of pace and spin resulting in an early wicket for Hill with her 2nd ball of the game with Davies, who was in the process of putting together a player of the match performance, taking the catch behind the stumps.

Tight bowling and sharp fielding continued to restrict the Malaysian batswomen who played high risk shots resulting in key dismissals to leave the innings stuttering at 14-3 after 6 overs. With pressure mounting, Hong Kong took control of the game with dot ball pressure creating a number of run outs.

Annie Ho (3-0-5-0) and Keenu Gill (2-0-4-1) stifled the Malaysian reply with a clinical partnership in the middle of the innings. Marina Lamplough and Chan Sa Ha combined to finish off the Malaysian tail. Both created havoc with yet another seam/spin combination which finished off the Malaysian innings inside 17 overs.

Hong Kong (77/7) beat Malaysia (42 all out) by 35 runs.

Player of the Match: Jenefer Davies

Hong Kong coach Richard Waite said “Delighted with the character shown by the team after a tough start at the beginning of the Hong Kong innings. The skill and game awareness of Jenefer Davies was crucial to Hong Kong edging up towards a score of 75/80 which ultimately proved to be 35 too many in tricky conditions”

Additional reporting and images: HKcricket

Hong Kong Women Tour India Ahead of T20 Qualifier

The Women’s Hong Kong National Team depart for their T20 World Cup qualifying journey on Sunday the 12th of November 2017. Arriving in Mumbai, India on Sunday the squad will be put through their paces in a grueling 5-day pre-tour before flying directly to Thailand to compete against hosts Thailand, Nepal, the UAE and China.

Coach of the National Women’s team, Richard Waite had this to say about the pre-tour in India “The next week provides a fantastic opportunity for the players to train in conditions not dissimilar to those we will encounter in Thailand, batting on turf wickets at world class facilities will hopefully give us an edge and something we inherently struggle to get in Hong Kong”.

Confidence is high in the camp following the success in the recent East Asia Cup tournament held in Hong Kong, where the hosts went through undefeated. “In the 6 weeks since the East Asia Cup we’ve taken time to analyse what we did well and looked at areas where we can improve in the hope it stands us in good stead to finish in the top two of qualifying in Thailand” Waite continued.

The Asian qualifiers in Thailand will see teams play each other once before the top two play off to decide who will finish top of qualifying in the Asian region.

“Recent stand out performances from opener Yasmin Daswani and the rapid improvement of vice-captain Kary Chan’s bowling lead us to believe we are in a great space to compete against strong opposition to hopefully book our place in the T20 World Qualifiers in the Netherlands to be held in the middle of 2018” said the coach.

Hong Kong will take on Malaysia in their first match of the Asian Qualifiers on Monday the 20th of November 2017 in Thailand.

Tour to India: 12-18 November, 2017

Mariko Hill, Captain, (HKCC), Kary Chan, Vice Captain, (CCC), Yasmin Daswani, (HKCC), Pull To, (CCC), Shanzeen Shahzad, (DSLW), Jenefer Davies (KCC), Natural Yip (HKCC), Annie Ho (HKCC), Bella Poon (KCC), Chan Sau Ha (HKCC), Marina Lamplough (HKCC), Emma Lai (HKCC), Ruchi Venketesh (HKCC), Lemon Cheung (HKCC)

World T20 Asia Region Qualifiers: 18-28 November, 2017

Additional reporting and images: HK cricket

South Africa Win Hong Kong Sixes

The Hong Kong Sixes came down to the last ball of the final, with South Africa edging Pakistan in a thrilling final at Kowloon Cricket Club.

Captain Aubrey Swanepoel won it for his team by hitting the very last ball for a four in the closest and most competitive game over the tournament weekend. The South African squad made the final after defeating New Zealand Kiwis by 18 runs.

This win is South Africa’s fifth victory in 18 editions of the tournament, having held aloft the trophy in 1995, 2006, 2009, 2012, the last time Hong Kong World Sixes was held. It joins England and Pakistan as a five-time winner of this popular event.

Ecstatic with the team’s performance this week, 28-year-old Swanepoel said: “As a cricketer growing up, this is what you dream of, in a tournament like this, to hit the winning run. I have the best team possible here with me, and if it wasn’t for my team, I wouldn’t have been in that situation.”

“Cricket in Hong Kong is growing, it has a bright future. People in Hong Kong want to see all the best teams come to play in this tournament. This event is only get better, and hopefully more teams will get involved. We have a young team, and we are looking forward to hopefully come back next year.” added Swanepoel.

Hong Kong, led by Babar Hayat, gave home fans plenty of cheer about after an inspiring run to win the Plate competition. Following Saturday’s round robin effort of one win and two losses, which put the team into the plate tournament, the local squad came through against the Marylebone Cricket Club with a five-run victory in the final. Nizakat Khan also took out the Ben Hollioake award for the player of the tournament.

Hayat, who narrowly missed out on winning player of the tournament in the 2012 event, commented: “Yesterday didn’t quite go according to plan but in the third game yesterday and today, we were outstanding with the ball and the bat, which was pleasing, and that was why we were able to win the Plate. We hadn’t play sixes for a very long time so it was always going to be tough but once you get going, you can always get some momentum going, which helped. It is a pleasing thing to play in front of a home crowd, with people cheering for you, supporting you. I hope we can play the sixes every year.”

Cricket Hong Kong Director Jonathan Cummings commented: “The two days of the tournament have been amazing. We couldn’t have wished for it to go any better, the weather, the cricket, the fans, and to have the result of the last ball is what makes sixes cricket so exciting. Getting South Africa and Pakistan in the final was great as we knew we would have a humdinger of a final, and to see Hong Kong winning the Plate Championship is fantastic. The event will 100% be back next year. Getting the event back was the first step. The crowds have loved it, the teams have loved it, and the tournament will be back even bigger next time.