Anshuman Rath and Nizakat Khan Half-Centuries Lead Hong Kong

hk v Ireland day two scorecard

An attritional second days play means Hong Kong will have to overcome a first innings deficit of 79 after being dismissed for 237 on day two of their Intercontinental Cup match against Ireland.

After losing two wickets in the first over of the day, two quality innings from Anshuman Rath (73*) and Nizakat Khan (69) were the highlight for Hong Kong who grafted all day long but lost wickets in bunches.

A partnership of 101 between Nizakat and debutant Ninad Shah (38) repaired the initial damage, while Waqas Khan (27) was the only other player to reach double figures.

Rath was left unbeaten at the other end when Tanveer Ahmed was the last man dismissed with just 8 balls left in the day.

The Ireland bowlers were relentless all day with spinner George Dockrell (3-46) and Peter Chase (3-50) the pick of the bowlers.

Play will resume at 6pm HKT with some rain forecast for the final two days in Belfast.

Interview with Nizakat Khan
Yeh we fought hard and just tried to hang in there after losing the two early wickets. When I was out there with Ninad we were just talking to each other a lot out there to urge each other to hang in there.”

Their bowling was very disciplined and we got no loose balls, so we had to work really hard to score runs and they have bowled to their plans, which have succeeded most of time.”

I think we are still short of runs and we wanted to get closer to them so tomorrow is crucial for us. We have to take early wickets so can give ourselves a score to chase down.”

I’m pretty happy with myself – although I was looking for a big score. I was playing really well which was pleasing after I’ve worked really hard with the batting coaches in Hong Kong on a few things. And I felt really good so hopefully I will get a big score in the second innings.”

Anshy played really well – his innings was what we really needed but unfortunately no one stuck with him. He played to the conditions and looked solid. His innings at the end there has kept us in the game.”

Additional reporting HK Cricket Association, scorecard Cricinfo

Babar Hayat, HK’s New Cricket Captain

Babar Hayat

Babar Hayat has been announced as the new Captain of Hong Kong’s cricket team ahead of the tour of United Kingdom and Ireland.

The HKCA selectors appointed the 24-year-old after Tanwir Afzal elected to stand down as Captain to focus on his own performances.

Babar will lead a 14-man squad on a testing tour that includes Hong Kong’s Intercontinental Cup clash against Ireland and two One Day Internationals against Scotland.

“I am honoured and extremely proud to be named captain of Hong Kong,” Babar said. “It is a privilege to even play for Hong Kong so to be given this opportunity is very humbling and a challenge I’m looking forward to. I must thank Tanwir for his efforts – the team has come a long way since he took over the captaincy and I’m sure I’ll be using his experience on the field. We have some exciting new faces for the upcoming tour, which will be a test in Ireland and Scotland’s home conditions. I’m really excited to lead this young team.”

Babar, who has played 43 Twenty20 matches for Hong Kong since debuting in 2012, famously hit 15 off the last over against Afghanistan to qualify Hong Kong for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20. But it’s been his progress in recent months that has impressed.

“Babar thoroughly deserves this opportunity from the summer he has had,” Director of Cricket and selector Charlie Burke said. “His fitness and his determination to take this team and Hong Kong cricket forward really excites me. He has led from the front in training and shown he is ready for a leadership role. I have no doubt that Babar will continue his impressive performances and led the squad from the front.”

Aizaz Khan has also been given his first leadership role in the team and has been appointed vice-captain in the absence of Mark Chapman. Aizaz, 23, has played 39 Twenty20 matches for Hong Kong after making his debut in 2011.

Hong Kong’s squad includes two new faces with Ehsan Khan and Shahid Wasif selected for their first national team tours.

2016 Hong Kong squad for the tour of United Kingdom and Ireland
Babar Hayat (Captain, DLSWCC), Aizaz Khan (Pakistan Association), Tanwir Afzal (Pakistan Association), Nadeem Ahmed (DLSWCC), Tanveer Ahmed (KCC), Chris Carter (KCC), Ehsan Khan (DLSWCC), Nizakat Khan (HKCC), Waqas Khan (DLSWCC), Adil Mehmood (KCC), Ehsan Nawaz (KCC), Anshuman Rath (HKCC), Ninad Shah (KCC), Shahid Wasif (DLSWCC)

Hong Kong to Host ICC 2016 Women’s World Cup Qualifier – Asia

bauhinia-v-sail

The road to the next Women’s Cricket World Cup is a long one but Hong Kong’s talented squad will play the first series of matches in their attempt to qualify at home after the International Cricket Council have awarded Hong Kong hosting rights of the ICC 2016 Women’s World Cup Qualifier – Asia, which will be held in October this year.

China, Nepal and Thailand will join Hong Kong in a round-robin tournament from the 9th-15th of October, at the Tin Kwong Recreation Ground in Mong Kok, with a place in the global qualifying tournament guaranteed for the winning team.

“The ICC 2016 Women’s World Cup Qualifier – Asia is an exciting opportunity for the top Women’s teams in Asia,” ICC Development and Programs Manager Andy Hobbs said. “The winner of this event will progress to the ICC 2017 Women’s World Cup Global Qualifier and have the opportunity to play against some of the top Women’s teams in the world and of course the chance to make it to the very pinnacle of Women’s Cricket at the world cup itself”.

The decision to award Hong Kong rights to host the tournament is yet another boost for local cricket in a year when Hong Kong has hosted its first ever One Day International, appeared in the ICC World Twenty20 and launched a new event, the Hong Kong T20 Blitz.

“We are thankful to the ICC for electing us to host the first ever Women’s World Cup Qualifier – Asia,” CEO Tim Cutler said. “We will be working closely with the government to ensure Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground is at the best standard it can be for this international event.”

“Our ladies are the pride of our indigenous development programmes with over half of the squad being of Hong Kong Chinese extraction. Witnessing the success of “big sister” China is particularly pleasing, and the HK v China matches are sure be the highlight for many.” Cutler continued “Such a diverse range of cultures make up our local cricket community and with a particularly large, proud, Nepalese community we expect to welcome some great crowds into the grounds over the course of the tournament.”

ICC 2016 Women’s World Cup Qualifier – Asia
Date: 9-15 October, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Recreation Ground
Tickets: tbc

Hong Kong Host Papua New Guinea in Three-game ODI Series

Hong Kong Cricket Team

After the success of Scotland’s recent visit, Hong Kong men’s cricket squad will host Papua New Guinea for a three-game One Day International (ODI) series in November.

The three game series will be played on Friday 4 November, Sunday 6 November and Tuesday 8 November. The fixtures will be the first ICC recognised ODI series hosted in Hong Kong outside of ICC World Cricket League and will be played at the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Mong Kok.

Papua New Guinea hosted Hong Kong in Townsville for their first ever ODI’s, which saw PNG play some quality cricket and win the series 2-nil.

Director of Cricket Charlie Burke said the series will be another step forward in what is already a strong relationship between the two emerging regions. “PNG and Hong Kong have both progressed through Cricket’s divisions together over the last few years,” Burke said.

“It was only in 2010 when we met in Division 3 and since then we have both emerged to register some excellent results in the World Cricket League and World Cup qualifiers. Our fans deserve to witness two quality sides that have played in some great battles as well as an opportunity to host PNG, who put on a great series in Townsville. The bigger picture is to continue preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in 2018.”

The series will be played during a busy period for Hong Kong, following a three-week tour of Ireland and Scotland and right before a trip away to play Kenya in two ICC WCLC matches.

Head Coach Simon Cook says the busy schedule will allow selectors to test the depth of what is now an extended full-time squad. “We have played PNG a lot over the years and the players have detailed knowledge of each other which always makes for an interesting series,” Cook said. “They have some good players that can take the game away from you if you let them so we will have to be on top of our game to beat them. As we speak our players are currently in a strength phase of their training program which is going really well so we should be seeing a faster, stronger and more durable Hong Kong squad leading into this really busy 6 month period.”

Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea
Date: 4, 6 and 8 November, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: tbc

Kowloon Cantons and Warriors Joint Winners of Inaugural T20 Blitz

t20 blitz 2016

The inaugural DTC Hong Kong T20 Blitz has ended with heavy overnight rain causing the abandonment of all three of Sunday’s matches including the final. Although Sunday was sunny, the pitch was waterlogged and unfit for play.

The rain had affected the opening two days of the tournament, but Saturday’s sold out and enthusiastic crowd showed both the players and the HK Cricket Association that the tournament has an exciting future.

T20-Blitz-points-table

The Warriors and Kowloon Cantons who were joint top of the points table at the end of day Two with a win and a no-result were declared joint winners of 2016’s T20 Blitz.

“The standard of cricket in the tournament was excellent, Cantons captain Scott McKechnie said. “The Warriors in particular were playing some very good cricket and I’m sure if we had a final today it would have been a very good game to watch. I think this weekend we’ve really put Hong Kong Cricket on the map, and it’s got great exposure for all the right reasons.”

Despite the disappointment of not playing the final, Warriors captain Jamie Atkinson echoed the thoughts of McKechnie in seeing the tournament’s bigger picture. “It was a great experience to get this tournament going anyway and get the best players in Hong Kong and the overseas talent to come in. At least we got some matches in at a good standard, hopefully next year it will be bigger and better.”

“It’s obviously a major disappointment to have today washed out but we need to look at the positives at what this event has achieved as a whole,” Hong Kong Cricket Association Tournament Chief Max Abbott said. “I need to thank the ground staff and volunteers for their help to do everything possible to get the ground ready for play. We’ll be back bigger and better next year – hopefully with a venue that is improved.”

T20 Blitz leading run scorer was Ryan Campbell (Kowloon Cantons) with 88 runs.
T20 Blitz leading wicket taker was Nadeem Ahmed (Island Warriors) with 4 wickets.

For all the tournament stats and results see here

T20 Blitz @ Mission Road – 28 May, 2016

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The inaugural T20 Blitz got underway in-front of an enthusiastic crowd. Four teams (Kowloon Cantons, Lantau Galaxy Riders, Island Warriors, Hung Hom Jaguars) are competing for the trophy and the cricket was fiercely competitive under grey skies. The rain gods held off for one and a half matches which saw some glorious shot-making and tight bowling. A sharp heavy shower curtailed the second match, but hard work and some sunshine saw the ground drained and ready for the day’s third game.

After entertaining the crowd with a couple of big shots in his second innings in Hong Kong Australia’s former captain Michael Clarke watched as Ryan Campbell launched the biggest 6 of the day out of the ground, over the softball pitch to be caught somewhere over Victoria Harbour by Yu Shi. Upset to be told that gods didn’t qualify for a free DTC mobile phone for a catch in the crowd, the heavens opened and heavy rain ended the day’s play.
Click on any photo for the full gallery.

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HK Cricket Match Report: Women’s Premier League – 15 May, 2016

women cricket 25 may 2016

Women’s Premier League – 15 May, 2016

The first of three Women’s Premier League 40-over fixtures was played at the Mission Road ground on Sunday, 15th May 2016. Teams were boosted by the addition of star players Sarah Coyte and Kristen Beams from Australia and Shizuka Miyaji and Mai Yanagida from Japan. Both teams also featured an under-13 player with Aarush Bhagwat playing for Sail and Sachit Anand playing for Bauhinia.

Conditions were sunny and hot as HKCA Sail (wearing blue) won the toss and elected to bat first. They got away to a good start with Kary Chan and Chan Sau Ha putting on 43 for the first wicket before Kary was bowled by Marina Lamplough for 12. Chan Sau Ha fell shortly afterwards for 25 – the first of seven run-outs in the match – and when Shanzeen Shahzad was trapped LBW for 1 by Shizuka Miyaji, Sail had slipped to 3/58.

Emma Lai and Sarah Coyte then combined in a 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket that laid the foundation for a big Sail total. Lai was eventually bowled by Kristen Beams for 24 and Coyte was stumped off the bowling of Alvina Tam for 54. Aarush Bhagwat hit 29 and Mai Yanagida scored 11 in the late charge for runs as Sail finished on 8/191 from their 40 overs.

For the Bauhinia team, Kristen Beams was the pick of the bowlers with 2/29 from her eight overs while Marina Lamplough, Shizuka Miyaji, Alvina Tam and Keenu Gill claimed one wicket each.

The Bauhinia innings followed a very similar pattern to that of Sail’s. An enterprising opening stand of 46 between Shizuka Miyaji (12) and Keenu Gill (28) was followed by three quick wickets that saw Bauhinia slip to 3/59. Jasmine Titmuss claimed both openers, with Mehreen Yousaf taking a brilliant catch to dismiss Keenu Gill, while Pull To was the third to fall after being sent back by her partner and run-out for 5. Another run-out saw the demise of Bauhinia’s skipper Mariko Hill (5) thanks to an excellent piece of fielding by Chan Sau Ha, to leave the Bauhinia innings teetering at 4/76.

A 62-run fifth wicket partnership between Sachit Anand and Kristen Beams got the Bauhinia innings back on track. Sachit batted very well to reach 41 but he fell to an excellent caught and bowled by Amanda Kwok. Marina Lamplough the fell for 5 off the bowling Coyte but Bauhinia still looked well on target to overhaul the Sail total at 6/160. But when Bauhinia’s momentum stalled, their batting and running between the wickets got more desperate as the overs ebbed away. Beams was bowled for 47 by Mehreen Yousaf after which Jenefer Davies, Annie Ho and Lemon Cheung were all run-out chasing non-existent singles.

Jasmine Titmuss was the pick of the bowlers for Sail, claiming 2/27 from her eight overs with two maidens while Mehreen Yousaf, Sarah Coyte and Amanda Kwok were the other wicket-takers for Sail.

Sail’s victory by six runs was their first in the series after Bauhinia had won the first two T20 matches in the series.

Despite being on the losing side, Sarah Coyte earned the Player of the Match award for her 54 runs and 1/28.

Score Summary: HKCA Sail 9/181 from 40 overs beat HKCA Bauhinia 185 from 39.1 overs by 6 runs

Craigengower CC Win Women’s Sixes 2016

Craigengower-CC

Women’s Sixes: Day 3 – 8 May
After the previous day’s play was washed out, a long, hot, third day was in order at PKVR Reservoir with nine games played in the Women’s Sixes. 

There was a thrilling finish to the first day’s match with HKCC beating DLSWCC by one run. HKCC batted first and found themselves two wickets down after the first two balls of the game but they recovered well to reach 4/39 from their five overs with Katy Gibbons hitting 22 not out while Maryam Bibi claimed 2/11 for DLSWCC. DLSWCC made hard work of their chase and they still needed nine runs off the last over. However, Alvina Tam grabbed two wickets and DLSWCC could only score seven, with the last wicket falling as the batsmen tried to scramble a third run to tie the game.

Women's Sixes 2016 The second game of the day saw KCC thrash CCC by six wickets. CCC made a lacklustre effort with the bat, only scoring 1/33 in five overs with 22 of those runs coming from extras. KCC had little trouble knocking off the runs in three overs with Keenu Gill hitting 19* and Sidra Nasreen 10*.

Game three was equally one-sided as DLSWCC beat USRC by five wickets. USRC batted first and they reached 1/33 with Rajni hitting 13. Rajni grabbed a wicket in the second innings too, but DLSWCC’s batting was too strong and they knocked off the runs in 3.3 overs with Shanzeen Shahzad hitting 23 before retiring.

There was another close finish in the day’s fourth game with CCC beating HKCC by four wickets. HKCC batted first and made 0/41 from their five overs with Emma Lai finishing on 14* and Chan Sau Ha 11*. CCC looked well set in their chase after Chan Sau Ha bowled a poor second over that conceded 15 runs but they still needed 10 runs off the last over for victory. Two wides and a no-ball in the last over by Emma Lai proved costly as CCC won the game with a bye off the last ball of the game. Kary Chan top-scored with 17* for CCC.

The last round-robin game saw KCC cruise to an easy victory over USRC. USRC batted first but could only manage 3/28 with Sweta hitting 10. KCC got to their winning target in three overs with Amanda Kwok hitting 12 not out.

On to the play-offs and a count-back of runs scored saw CCC the top ranked team on the same points as HKCC with three wins apiece while DLSWCC and KCC finished third and fourth respectively having won two and lost two matches each.

In the first semi-final, DLSWCC scored an impressive victory over HKCC. Good bowling by the DLSWCC team restricted HKCC to 1/42 with Katy Gibbons hitting 12*. Shanzeen hit the day’s first six in her innings of 21 retired and Mehreen hit two boundaries in her 10* as DLWCC scored the winning runs in 3.5 overs.

The second semi-final saw CCC over-turn their earlier loss to KCC to win easily by six wickets. KCC batted first but they could only make 0/36 from their five overs with Keenu Gill hitting 21*. Kary Chan hit 17* and Pull To scored 18* as CCC eased to victory in 3.4 overs without loss.

In the third/four place play-off, HKCC made the day’s highest score of 4/54 with Natural Yip hitting 20. In reply, Keenu Gill hit two big sixes in her innings of 22 retired but she failed to cross with the incoming batsman on the field of play and KCC conceded a four-run penalty. In the end, KCC’s chase finished 12 runs short and HKCC completed the tournament in third place. 

On to the grand final where DLSWCC won the toss and elected to bowl first against CCC. They had immediate success with CCC’s skipper Pull To bowled by Maryam Bibi off the first ball of the game. However, CCC recovered well and they finished on 4/47 off their five overs with Kary Chan hitting 14*. DLSWCC’s Shanzeen Shahzad hit the first ball of the chase for four but she fell to a good catch in the deep off the last ball of the first over. Jaswinder hit 14* for DLSWCC but a brilliant last over by Kary Chan in which three wickets fell for just three runs saw CCC crowned winners by seven runs. 

Women's Sixes 2016

Women’s Sixes Results:
Match 6: HKCC 5/39 from 5 overs beat DLSWCC 5/38 from 5 overs by one run.
Match 7: CCC 1/33 from 5 overs lost to KCC 0/35 from 3.0 overs by six wickets.
Match 8: USRC 1/33 from 5 overs lost to DLSWCC 1/35 from 3.3 overs by five wickets.
Match 9: HKCC 0/41 from 5 overs lost to CCC 2/43 from 5 overs by four wickets.
Match 10: USRC 3/28 from 5 overs lost to KCC 0/29 from 3 overs by six wickets.

1st Semi-final: HKCC 1/42 from 5 overs lost to DLSWCC 0/43 from 3.5 overs by six wickets.
2nd Semi-final: KCC 0/36 from 5 overs lost to CCC 0/37 from 3.4 overs by six wickets.

3rd/4th Play-off: HKCC 3/54 from 5 overs beat KCC 1/42 from 5 overs by 12 runs.

Grand Final: CCC 4/47 from 5 overs beat DLSWCC 5/40 from 5 overs by 7 runs.