Category: 2016

HK Cricket Match Reports: Saturday 9 January, 2016

Saturday Championship

Saturday Championship Division 1

CCC Jing Sung v HKCC Witherers
At Hong Kong Cricket Club, CCC Jing Sung scored a 39-run victory over competition leaders HKCC Witherers.

Mark Wright top-scored for CCC Jing Sun with 65 as the Craigengower team reached 8/185 from their 35 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Ciaran McAssey was the pick of the bowlers for HKCC Witherers, claiming 3/21 from his seven over spell.

Charlie Bright led the Witherers reply with 39 but didn’t receive enough support from his teammates and from a seemingly strong position of 3/99, their run-chase petered out at 146. Matt Rafter (3/21 from 7 overs) and Gianluca Lamplough (3/32 from 6) did much of the damage with the ball for CCC Jing Sun.
At HKCC: CCC Jing Sun 8/185 from 35 overs beat HKCC Witherers 146 from 33.4 overs by 39 runs.

Pakistan Association v Centaurs
At PKVR Park, Pakistan Association moved up to fourth on the table with an eight-wicket thrashing of Centaurs.

Batting first after winning the toss, Centaurs got away to useful start and looked well placed at 1/76 with opener Keith Hemshall scoring 41. Thereafter Centaurs wickets tumbled regularly and they were eventually dismissed for 138 with Mohammad Saad picking up 4/32 from 5.4 overs, including a hat-trick to wrap up the innings.

The Pakistan Association openers put on 53 runs for the first wicket with Daniyal Butt going on to hit 32 and Mehtab Ali scoring 31. Akbar Khan then got them home in the 17th over with an unbeaten 53.
At PKVR Park: Centaurs 138 from 34.4 overs lost to Pakistan Association 2/143 from 16.3 overs by eight wickets.

Saturday Championship Division 2

Laguna Gully v Kai Tak
At Mission Road, Laguna Gully enjoyed a bonus point victory over Kai Tak.

Kai Tak won the toss and elected to bowl first but they found themselves chasing leather on the much- improved Mission Road outfield. Shekhar Sharma hit 73, Vikram Thareja 50 and Keyurkumar Patva 33 not out as Laguna Gully amassed 6/224 from their 35 overs.

In reply, Kai Tak could only muster 9/148 from their 35 overs with Pranav Shah claiming 4/24 from seven overs for Laguna Gully.
At Mission Road: Laguna Gully 6/224 from 35 overs beat Kai Tak 9/148 from 35 overs by 76 runs.

HK Cricket Match Reports: Sunday 10 January, 2016

Sunday Championship

Pakistan Association v HKCA Dragons
Reigning champions Pakistan Association had little trouble dispatching HKCA Dragons by 375 runs at Mission Road on Sunday.

Opting to bowl first, the Dragons conceded 5/412 from their 50 overs with Tanwir Afzal hitting 61, Aizaz Khan 93, Skhawat Ali 41 and Ahsan Abbasi finishing on 142 not out. Dragons skipper Ady Lee was the pick of the Dragons bowlers, picking up 3/76 from his ten over spell.

The Dragons batsmen had a poor outing, with only one player reaching double figures in a rout that saw them dismissed for just 37 in 15 overs. Mohsin Khan benefitted most with 5/2 from two overs, including a hat-trick to finish the game.
At Mission Road: Pakistan Association 5/412 from 50 overs beat HKCA Dragons 37 from 15 overs by 375 runs.

Hong Kong to host Scotland in Braidwood Cup Series

The new year starts a with a treat for local cricket fans as Hong Kong play at home, for first time since 2011, as the host Scotland in the Braidwood Cup. The series features the first One Day International & First Class Cricket matches on Chinese soil

In a nod to the visitors and as recognition of Hong Kong’s Scottish heritage, and deeply rooted, though perhaps surprising, cricketing links, the Hong Kong Cricket Association has created an overall series prize, the Braidwood Cup, for the incoming tour. The Cup is named after Scottish expatriate William Drew Braidwood, who founded the Craigengower Cricket Club (CCC) in 1894, the second oldest such club in the territory after the Hong Kong Cricket Club (est. in 1851).

The Braidwood Cup will feature eight days of world-class cricket including the four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup match, two One Day International (ODI) matches played as part of the ICC World Cricket League Championship and two Twenty20 (T20) Internationals.

Hong Kong have made giant strides on the international scene since they last played at home 5 years ago, securing ODI status in 2014 after finishing third in the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier and gaining T20 International status in 2013 after qualifying for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.

“We’re a different team now to that of 2011,” said HKCA Director of Cricket Charlie Burke, “The players have worked hard for the past five years and we are a much different side. We’re excited about the Braidwood Cup as the players have not had the chance to play in front of our home crowds in several years.”

Hong Kong’s strengths at present revolve more around short form cricket, with Scotland seemingly having the upper hand in the impending Intercontinental Cup clash.

“Scotland have played about 400 games of First Class cricket, compared to Hong Kong with two. Their players are heavily involved in County Cricket in the United Kingdom, so they have more experience in the format, but we have nothing to lose and I’m sure the team will play that much bigger in front of their families and friends,” said Burke.

The First Class, Intercontinental Cup (I-Cup) is the ICC’s Test Cricket pathway tournament, featuring the best eight teams outside of the top 10, or test playing nations.

The winner of the three-year, single round, I-Cup series will play a home and away “test challenge” against the lowest ranked test side. If the I-Cup winner is successful in that series, they will qualify as a Test nation for the next four-year cycle, allowing them to compete in the sport’s highest echelon of the traditional, five-day form.

After the conclusion of the I-Cup, Hong Kong will host two ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) matches. The WCLC is contested by the next eight teams outside of the twelve-team top-tier ODI nations, which includes Associate members Afghanistan and Ireland. The games will be played in the same 50-over ODI format as the World Cup.

The WCLC matches are a priority for Hong Kong as it is the primary pathway for teams to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) in the United Kingdom in 2019. Following the conclusion of the WCLC in 2017, the top half of teams will advance to the CWC qualification tournament in 2018.

Hong Kong (world ODI ranking 15th) is currently first on the World Cricket League Championship table, while Scotland (ranked 13th) is fourth after the tournament’s second round.

“We’re focusing pretty heavily on the World Cricket League Championship’s ODI matches as they format is more conducive to our strengths at the moment than four-day cricket and they offer an opportunity for us to play in the World Cup,” said Burke. “Our goal for the Series is to hold our position at the top of the WCLC table and to prepare for the upcoming World Twenty20.”

Hong Kong who have qualified for the World Twenty20 in India in March-April 2016, are in the same pool as Scotland, along with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in Group B.

After the WCLC matches, two Twenty20 Internationals will be held as the Association concludes the Series with some big-hitting entertainment for the fans. The final weekend of the competition will also feature exhibition games of HKCA women’s and youth cricket, showcasing the strength of the game in the SAR.

Hong Kong will revel in the opportunity to play at home for the first time in over three years, promises Burke: “We have a young, exciting team, whose average age is just 20 years old. Most of these players have never had the opportunity to represent Hong Kong in front of their families and friends so this is a huge occasion for them; I expect it will be an emotional lift for the players.

“Scotland is a very good side. They’re aggressive and their batsmen like to put bowlers under pressure. The combination of their batting strength and our bowling attack is going to make for some exciting cricket. It will be a good contest between two of the strongest associate nations in world cricket,” Burke added.

“It is great to be able to play at home. There is a definite home advantage in cricket, more so than in other sports because of the importance of the playing surface and how those surfaces differ in every country. The players are familiar with Mission Road, they play a lot of club cricket there and train there as well so there will be no excuses” said Burke.

Burke’s sentiment was echoed by HKCA Chief Executive Officer Tim Cutler who thanked the Government for its continued support: “We’re hugely thankful to the Hong Kong Government and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department for all of the work that they have put into Mission Road to bring it up to international standard. We now have a home for cricket and are intent on ensuring that our team, with one of the highest world rankings of any Hong Kong sport, has more opportunities to play at home to help grow the local game”

“William Drew Braidwood’s name is a fitting choice for this historic trophy,” Cutler added, “Besides founding CCC, a club that welcomed members from all corners of the community. Braidwood is also credited with initiating discussions in 1903 to establish the first formal cricket league in Hong Kong; the competition for which the HKCA was formed to administer in 1968. Remarkable achievements by a remarkable man,” Cutler concluded.

The Hong Kong Cricket Association is intent on making Mission Road the home of Hong Kong Cricket and has confirmed that all of the Braidwood Cup Series matches will feature free admission to the public areas of the ground.

HKCA Braidwood Cup Series
All matches will be held at Mission Road Cricket Ground
ICC Intercontinental Cup: Thursday – Sunday, 21-24 January
ICC World Cricket League Championship: Tuesday & Thursday, 26 & 28 January
Twenty20 Matches: Saturday – Sunday, 30-31 January

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 9 January, 2016

womens-rugby-9-january,-2016

Censorship, Intimidation and Harassment of SCMP Reader

scmp-powering-through---2-january-2016

It’s ironic that while on it’s front pages the SCMP vociferously advocates for press freedom and the release of Bo Lee and his fellow disappeared. The reality within it’s own pages is that of censorship, intimidation and harassment of any reader who dare criticise or question an SCMP employee. The exact type of actions that the SCMP would have its readers believe it looks to expose in others. The hypocrisy is sad.

On the 1 January the SCMP’s Kevin Kung spent 16 hours, working until 1am, on a story about the New Year’s Day Youth Rugby Tournament at HK Football Club. By his own admission he didn’t stay until the end of the tournament. A sterling effort you might think, except that the published article, a massive 250 or so words, quite simply ignores half the participants. Focusing solely on the boys rugby, reading his original story you’d never know that half the rugby played that day was by girls.

Linda Olson the administrator and driving force behind the Women’s Rugby Hong Kong Facebook group enquired politely of Mr Kung about the gender bias in his article.

“I am wondering why you only reported on boys’ rugby in the article below?
The headline makes it sound as if only boys took part.
The article itself makes no mention of the girls who played.
The video includes only brief coverage of girls rugby (the U12s team and captain).
This is unacceptable.
Nearly a quarter of rugby players in Hong Kong are girls/women and it is the most rapidly expanding demographic here.
Please ensure that your coverage is more inclusive in future..”

The article’s author Mr Kung replied and made some edits to ‘improve’ the online version of the article:
1. “Girls” was added to the sub-headline making it gender neutral.
2. A photo with caption of Gracie Hood (GH) was added.
3. An extra paragraph added to the end of the article mentioned the U19s girls’ game (but did not name the Captain as they had with the boys game) and GH being named Best and Fairest of the match.
Mrs Olson notified the WRHK Facebook group members of the changes and thanked Mr Kung for making them, at the same time providing a quantitative analysis of the gender imbalance of the SCMP coverage.

Mr Kung however had also cc’d in SCMP Sports Editor Noel Prentice who then fired off an intimidatory and threatening email to Mrs Olson which he cc’d to senior figures at the HK Rugby Union AND Mrs Olson’s employer!!!

Mr Prentice’s email is quite astounding in it’s arrogance, tone and less than full disclosure of facts.

“I take exception to you accusing my reporter and SCMP of sexist coverage when Kevin has gone out of his way to cover rugby and the New Year’s Day tournament. He spent 16 hours compiling the online and print coverage so please have some respect.

SCMP is a great supporter of rugby and we give what many consider a niche sport a disproportionate amount of coverage. (bc’s note: why, because the HK Rugby Union pay the SCMP a lot of money to write about local and international rugby). And we have also gone out of our way to cover the emergence of women/girls in the game and the opportunity they have been afforded.

We do not have the resources to give blanket coverage to any sport and all sports and events are judged on their news value.

We also strive to be fair and balanced and I would expect you to also adhere to these principles when delivering any gender bias lectures to the students of Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong.” SCMP’s Noel Prentice

If it takes Mr Kung 16 hours to write a 250 or so word article it does explain a lot about why the SCMP print edition is so thin and lacking in content compared to years past. Joking aside Noel Prentice’s email is factually mis-representative of Mrs Olson’s enquiry and comment; neglects to mention that the HKRU pays the SCMP lots of money to ‘support’ the writing and publishing of stories about rugby; and extremely patronising of the fairer sex “the emergence of women/girls in the game and the opportunity they have been afforded” and by assuming that boys rugby coverage is of value, while coverage of girls youth rugby has no news value.

If the original article was to quote Mr Prentice “Fair and balanced” then Mrs Olson wouldn’t have needed to contact Mr Kung and could have used the story to show how the media was covering girls and women’s rugby in the same detail as men’s rugby. That it didn’t make any mention of 50% of the tournaments participants makes it unbalanced not fully accurate and a perfect example of gender imbalance in the media – the subject of Mrs Olson’s frustration and her class.

Why Mr Prentice also cc’d Mrs Olson employer, in what appears to be a blatant intimidation attempt to damage her professional standing and work relationship with her employer – while at the same time looking to censor the use of SCMP content in an education setting – is something the SCMP failed to answer when bc emailed them asking for a comment.

Read the full email conversation here – email addresses have been removed to protect people’s privacy.
Read about women’s rugby in bc magazine and here on the Women’s Rugby Hong Kong facebook group.

Megabites: Howard’s Gourmet, Bistro D’indochine

Howard's Gourmet Dining Room

Howard’s Gourmet opens in Central
Founded by Mr. Howard Cai, who started ‘Howard’s Gourmet Workshop’ in Guangzhou in 2005, Howard’s Gourmet looks to offer simple and distinctive Chinese cuisine in an elegant environment. The restaurant’s design includes white wooden paneled walls, French windows and crystal chandeliers. Howard’s Gourmet offers tasting menus, with a mix of ‘classic’, ‘seasonal’ and ‘creative’ dishes, comprising of 6-8 courses for lunch at HK$800 up and 10-12 courses for dinner at HK$1,680 up respectively. Signature dishes include: Crispy Sea Cucumber, Golden Bite, Pan-fried Fish Fillet with Herbs, Hot & Sour Noodles, Braised Fish Fillet in Tomato Sauce, Braised Blue Mussels, Avocado with Stewed Bird’s Nest.
Howard’s Gourmet: 5th Floor, CCB Tower, 3 Connaught Road Central, Central. Tel: 2115 3388 www.howardsgourmet.com

Bistro D'indochine

Bistro D’indochine, Macau
Stephen Anderson’s new wine bar Bistro D’indochine opened in Macau just before Christmas. The wine bar has a large outdoor area and features an asian fusion style menu with lots of noodles. The house speciality noodles offer a choice of egg or rice noodle and flavours include Vietnamese beef noodles, tom yum soup noodle and laksa noodles – all MOP$62. There’s also a daily lunch offering.
Bistro D’indochine: The Garden, Patio Da Lenha downtown Macau www.facebook.com/pages/Bistro-D-indochine

New Year’s Eve @ HK Cafe – 31 December, 2015

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/New-Years-Eve-HK-Cafe-31/i-XgLnsTh

Happy New Year
Hong Kong waved adieu to twenty fifteen and welcomed 2016 with mass party on the water, at the beach, in the parks, on the streets and in thousands of bars and restaurants across the world’s greatest city.
A new year, a fresh page in the book of life waiting to be written…
Click on any photo to access the gallery

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/New-Years-Eve-HK-Cafe-31/i-8HGvhFt

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/New-Years-Eve-HK-Cafe-31/i-h8cLz3c

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/New-Years-Eve-HK-Cafe-31/i-RSDCSnK

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/New-Years-Eve-HK-Cafe-31/i-Q2L7PBB

New Year’s Day White Elephant March

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/New-Years-Day-March-1-January/i-gS9Hrz6

Thousands of individuals and groups marched on New Year’s Day to protest the squandering of Hong Kong’s financial reserves on white elephant and vanity projects that fill the 1%’s bank accounts while doing little or nothing to improve the quality of life for rank and file HongKongers.
Click on any image for the full gallery.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/New-Years-Day-March-1-January/i-Xw7sgq6

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/New-Years-Day-March-1-January/i-ZdzK2W6

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/New-Years-Day-March-1-January/i-hbFQ2tj

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/New-Years-Day-March-1-January/i-zPGkV6F

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/New-Years-Day-March-1-January/i-kRPnTbf