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Hong Kong Win East Asia T20 Cup

Amidst the showers Hong Kong beat Japan in the final to win the East Asia T20 Cup by 5 wickets on Sunday at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.

Japan Captain Mai Yanagida won the toss and elected to bat first. For Hong it was their first time fielding first having won their pool matches batting first. Mariko Hill took the new ball and bowled with good pace with Japan and Kanno in particular looking to take advantage of anything short and wide.

Chan Ka Man made the opening breakthrough with Kanno well caught at mid-off by Ho for 8. Back to back maidens during overs 5 and 6 by Ho and Chan Ma Kan left Japan under pressure at 14-1 after 6 overs. Shirashi set out to kick start the innings with a flowing drive through cover for 4.

Shirashi was then comprehensively bowled by K Chan for 8 and Hong Kong were very much in the ascendency. The Japanese captain Yanagida was still at the crease but was struggling to break the shackles of some disciplined bowling and excellent fielding inside the circle. 17 runs off the 12^th over kick started the Japanese innings with some lusty blows being struck by Endo. The Japanese counter-attack continued in the next over with 9 coming off the bowling of Chan Sau Har including some excellent straight drives through and over mid on/off.

Chan Ka Man was bought back into the attack and struck instantly bowling the dangerous Endo for a well-made 16. Chan ended up with figures of 2-3 off her 4 over spell including 3 maidens. Yanagida continued to Japan innings together and played some exquisite drives both through and over cover. 74-3 off 17 overs, the Japanese were trying everything to get close to 100 If not beyond. Yanagida finished unbeaten on 35 off 55 balls and Japan’s inning s closed on 90-4.

Hong Kong set off chasing 91 with in form openers Daswani and Gill striding out to the middle. The impressive left arm spinner of Miyaji started off with a maiden and the intensity of the Japanese fielding unit within the inner circle was evident from the first ball. Daswani with her favored square cut and back foot drive tried to get the innings flowing while Japan looked to continue to build pressure. Gill eventually got off the mark with 2 cultured strokes through the leg side. 32-0 after the initial 6 over power play, 58 needed off 84 balls with the full complement of wickets in hand.

Rain bought the players off the field at the start of the 9^th over with Hong Kong well placed on 44-0. No overs were lost and the players returned to the middle with play resuming with a free hit that Daswani duly obliged by slashing once again through backward point. The 50 partnership came up in the 9th over and with that the heavens opened once again. Play resumed for a 3rd time with a revised target of 83 off 18 Overs. Miyaji returned and made the breakthrough bowling Gill (53-1). Ishimoto claimed the wicket of K Chan caught by Wicket Keeper Yamaguchi for 2.

A late flurry of wickets including Daswani, Hill and Shahzad added some late drama but Hong Kong went on to win by 5 wickets and are the 2017 East Asia T20 Champions.

Hong Kong are deserving winners of what has been an excellent tournament. All 4 teams at various stages of the week have shown high levels of skill, passion and commitment. The future of Women’s cricket within the region is in good health.

Hong Kong (85/5) beat Japan (90/4) by 5 wickets (Duckworth/Lewis method)

Player of the Tournament: Yasmin Daswani (Hong Kong)

Batter of the Tournament: Yasmin Daswani (Hong Kong)
Bowler of the Tournament: Etsuko Kobayashi (Japan)

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket

Daswani Scores 77 as Hong Kong Rout Korea

Hong Kong fresh from their opening day win against China took on a Korean team looking for their first win of the competition. Captain Mariko Hill won the toss and elected to bat first in humid conditions on what looked an excellent pitch at Kowloon Cricket Club.

Yasmin Daswani, who top scored in Hong Kong’s impressive opening win, is in a rich vein of form and quickly set out to pressure the Korean attack with a number of back foot cuts and pulls. Hong Kong progressed smoothly to 35 for no loss after 6 overs.

Korea made the initial breakthrough with Gill finding herself short of her the crease after being sent back by Daswani and then struck quickly again with Chan being caught off the bowling of Park. Captain Hill strode to the crease at 45-2 with plenty of overs left to bat. Daswani continued to punish any error in length particularly through the leg side. At the halfway stage Hong Kong were nicely placed at 65-2 with Daswani on 34 and Hill on 12.

The Hong Kong innings then accelerated with 50 runs coming in the next 4 overs and Daswani reached her second successive half century with a beautiful shot through mid-wicket. With 4 overs to go Hong Kong were 121-2 with Daswani on 60 and Hill on 30 and looked set for the second successive 160+ score.

Tight Korean bowling kept the score in check. The 100 partnership arrived in the 19^th over before Daswani was run-out in the final over for an excellent 77. Hong Kong finished on 151-3 with Hill unbeaten on 40.

The Korean opening pair of Kim and Baek hoped for a strong start to the chase. Ho opening the bowling from the far end picked up 2 wickets in the opening over dismissing Baek caught and bowled for 0 and Choi first ball. The Korean batswomen struggled to score in the face of some tight bowling by Ho and Chan.

The introduction of left arm spin in the form of Chan Sau Har proved an instant success with 2 quick wickets reducing Korea to 29-4 inside the first 9 overs. Shahzad was bought into the action and instantly got amongst the wickets dismissing Song.

Kary Chan added some icing to the cake by picking up two late wickets to hand Hong Kong a comfortable victory by 92 runs. Hong Kong go into tomorrow’s dead rubber, and final preview, against Japan full of confidence.

Result: Hong Kong 151-3 beat Korea 59-8 by 92 runs

Player of the Match: Yasmin Daswani (77 runs)

Full scorecard here

East Asia T20 Cup: Daswani Stars as Hong Kong Beat China

Game 2 of the 2017 East Asia T20 Cup saw the hosts Hong Kong take on China. Matches between these two fierce rivals have traditionally been keenly fought contests.

Birthday woman Yasmin Dawani ensured that this latest contest played at the Hong Kong Cricket Club was only ever going to end in a Hong Kong victory.

China’s captain Li Haoyue called correctly and China elected to field first.

Hong Kong’s opening pair of Daswani and Gill strode out purposefully and proceeded to take the attack to the Chinese bowlers during the initial power play period. Some fine attacking strokes from Daswani accompanied by some smart batting from Gill saw the partnership reach 50 in the 8^th over. Daswani in particular was keen to seize on any errors in line and length from the Chinese attack.

Hong Kong were well set at 80 for no loss after 11 overs with a total of 170+ looking possible given the hosts talented attacking middle order. The 100 partnership between Daswani and Gill coincided with an excellent half century for Daswani.

Chinese final broke the opening partnership at the start of the 17th with the score on 130 when the impressive Zhongyuan comprehensively bowled Gill for a well-made 35. China’s bowlers battled through the full 20 overs and did well to restrict Hong Kong 161-3.

Yasmin Daswani with an excellent 71 not out held the innings together for Hong Kong and China will be happy with the way that they bowled and fielded in the last 5 overs where at one stage 180+ looked likely.

China’s opening pair of Caiyun and Yanling started off positively against the experienced new ball pairing of Chan and Hill. Chan was the first to make the breakthrough with Caiyun well caught by Ho at mid-off with the score on 14.

Chan picked up hers and Hong Kong’s second wicket with an excellent diving catch by Chan Sau Har at extra cover with the score on 16. Annie Ho grabbed the 3^rd wicket after Yanling chipped the ball to captain Hill at short mid-wicket.

Ho was again in the action taking an athletic catch at mid-off to gift Gill a wicket in her opening over reducing China to 20-4 after 8 overs.

Some excellent batting from Z Chan (35) in the middle part of the innings kept China moving forwards as they finished on 75-5 after 20 overs and her form will be a plus for the team as they move into the later stages of this tournament.

Hong Kong’s fielding display was full of energy throughout with some excellent catches taken and high standards within the inner circle.

Overall, a comprehensive and clinical win for Hong Kong with Daswani the star. For China, they are lessons to be learned from today’s performance and much is expected of them over the weekend.

Result: Hong Kong 161-3 beat China 75-5 by 86 runs

Player of the Match: Yasmin Daswani (Hong Kong)

Full scorecard here:

Opening Bat, Yasmin Daswani

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/ICCWorldCup-HKvNepal-9Oct2016/i-ngZTPZ4

Ahead of the Women’s East Asia Cup bc spoke to Hong Kong’s new opening batswoman Yasmin Daswani about cricket, life and the desire to score her first century.

How did you start playing cricket?
I started playing in 2006 when my mum and I joined the HKCC Cavaliers. I was 12 and my mum wanted to us do a “mother daughter activity” together. Growing up in Hong Kong, my brother and I had little/ no connection to our Indian roots, and my mom thought that cricket (as one of the sports India excels at) would give us some connection to our heritage!

What skills do you need to make it as a cricketer?
A common misconception is that cricket involves a lot of standing around. Nowadays, in order to make it as a professional cricketer you need to be fit, strong, have good hand-eye coordination and stamina. Cricket involves diving around to stop the ball, sprinting between wickets as well as bowling, batting and throwing.

What does playing for Hong Kong mean to you?
I am honored to to represent Hong Kong. This is my home and it always gives me goosebumps seeing the Hong Kong flag at games.

Are HK women’s cricketer’s amateurs or professional? What do you do to pay the bills?
HK women cricketers are currently amateurs and are unpaid. We are hoping to change this by performing well in the next few tournaments, as doing so could secure vital funding for women’s cricket as a sport.

Earlier this year I worked at Cricket Hong Kong as a High Performance Assistant. I loved this role as I was able to get involved in tournaments such as the T20 Blitz and Netherlands Series. As we have gotten closer to the women’s tournaments, however, I have preferred to work more flexibly as an English tutor to support myself financially.

Best moment as a Hong Kong cricketer
Being awarded Player of the Tournament at an Under 19s tournament in Singapore.

What’s the state of women’s cricket in Hong Kong today?
Having come back to Hong Kong after being abroad at University, I was pleased to see how women’s cricket has progressed while I was studying. The number of participating teams has increased to a point where we now have a second development league. This is ideal as it provides a pathway for younger players.

While this is positive, the teams in the top league are still not as competitive as we would like them to be. Many clubs are still reliant on one or two national players—once these players are out a batting collapse usually follows. More needs to be done to develop younger players and to give them the opportunity to play at a high level- particularly since there is no longer an ACC Under 19 set up.

In addition, women’s cricket in Hong Kong is limited by a lack of facilities. Women are not able to play/ train on turf wickets regularly, which puts us at a disadvantage given that international games are usually played on turf.

With the long gaps in the international schedule how easy / difficult is it to improve and create a team feel?
There are significant gaps in the women’s international schedule- our last tournament was in September 2016! With such long gaps it is hard to build momentum and to keep motivated.

Our team has excellent rapport, however, and we drive each other to improve by encouraging friendly competition among ourselves- you should hear the sledging that takes place during league games! It really helps that we all get along so well, as even when we don’t have tournaments we are extremely active and push each other to train hard.

What are yours / the team’s aspirations?
Personally I want to score a century, my current highest score is 95. Team wise our current aspirations are to place first in the East Asia Cup and to qualify from the November World Cup Qualifiers. Doing so would give us HKSI points and would allow us to be paid as professional athletes. This would be life-changing, particularly as many players currently have to balance a full time job with the arduous demands of training-often at unsociable hours before and after work.

Do you feel you’ve reached your potential as a cricketer, or could you get better by perhaps playing overseas?
I took a hiatus from cricket while at University, and have found that since coming back I have been able to look at my game with a fresh pair of eyes. As the standard of women’s cricket in countries like Australia and England is much higher, I do believe that I could enhance my game by learning from more experienced female players abroad.

What advice would you give to women who are interested in playing cricket in Hong Kong?
Now is such an exciting time to be coming to the sport! Women’s cricket is developing rapidly with the ICC committed to provide more funding and structure in future years. For the first time ever we are able to watch every ball of every game in a Women’s World Cup, and the coverage for women’s cricket is only going to grow.

For youngsters wanting to represent Hong Kong in the future – I would say go for it 100%. Cricket is a such a sociable, fun sport and it cultivates a culture of respect towards your teammates, the opposition and the umpires. I have made lifelong friends playing cricket and will always treasure my years playing in and for Hong Kong.

What are your plans going forward?
I am currently on a (second!) gap year having finished university and secured a law job in London. I have been really lucky as my firm have been understanding of my cricket aspirations – they have allowed me to defer my start date until I have finished playing in the upcoming tournaments. In September 2018 I will start my job, however I will continue to play cricket with the Finchley Gunns in London. After I finish my training contract I want continue to play for Hong Kong!

Women’s East Asia Cup 2017
Date: 21-24 September, 2017
Venue: HKCC, KCC, Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: Free
More info:
21 Sept – HKCC
22 Sept – KCC
23-24 Sept – Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground