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
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), Betty Chan (HKCC)
Additional reporting and images: HK cricket