bc magazine

T20 Blitz Squads Announced

A record 27 overseas players will compete with the best of Hong Kong’s domestic talent as the final squads were confirmed ahead of the 2018 Hong Kong T20 Blitz on 6-11 February.

Ten overseas players return for a second time, including headline stars Kumar Sangakkara (Galaxy Gladiators), Daren Sammy (Jaguars) and Dwayne Smith (Cantons).

“I loved the previous season of the Blitz, and cannot wait to represent Gladiators for the second time running. I’m super excited to get back with the team,” said Sangakkara. “I loved the Hong Kong experience and vibe and to come again and play with the home-grown talent in front of such enthusiastic supporters is something I am looking forward to.”

Defending champions Kowloon Cantons have gone to pace in their bid for a three-peat with Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz set to play in the Blitz for the first time. They won’t be the only side with pace to burn, with Hong Kong Island United securing 216cm quick Mohammad Irfan. Meanwhile the Galaxy will have young gun Jofra Archer in their armoury, who has been bowling in excess of 150km/h in the Big Bash League.

City Kaitak boast a wealth of international experience with West Indies’ Rayad Emrit returning to the franchise and supported by Sohail Tavir, Ravi Bopara, Samuel Badree and Kyle Coetzer, who was the second leading run-scorer in the tournament last year.

“The depth of talent in this year’s overseas draft is incredible,” Tournament Director Matt Stiller said. “The franchise owners have done fantastically well to assemble these squads, which are sure to provide a great spectacle for cricket fans in Hong Kong.”

To encourage the continued development of emerging cricket nations and Chinese cricket, each squad is required to field one overseas Associate player and one Cricket Hong Kong Dragons player.

The franchises have embraced this vision wholeheartedly according to Stiller. “It’s great to see franchises promoting the Associate member nations, not only by raising the profile of the tournament in Hong Kong, but by including players like Paul Van Meekeren and Scotland captain Coetzer, who will make up integral parts of the playing XI’s. We’re expecting a great show with sold out crowds on the weekend,” he said.

Over 120 sixes were hit over five days of the tournament last year and that number is expected to increase with some power hitters signed on.

HKI United’s Kamran Akmal is one of the most notable with 145 sixes in his T20 career alone, while Galaxy’s Cameron Delport smashed 109 off 59 balls for Leicestershire in England’s T20 Blast last season.

And not to be forgotten is the hitting power of the locals, with Hong Kong captain Babar Hayat, the leading run scorer in Nepal’s Everest T20 League, and Nizakat Khan looking to repeat the his whirlwind century against City Kaitak in last year’s Blitz.

City Kaitak

Overseas: Samuel Badree (WI), Rayad Emrit (WI), Sohail Tanvir (Pak), Ravi Bopara (Eng), Kyle Coetzer (Sco)
Domestic Players: Anshuman Rath, Aizaz Khan (c), Waqas Barkat, Jamie Atkinson, Manjinder Singh, Ishtiaq Muhammad, Umar Mohammad, Raag Kapur, Mudassar Hussain, Siegfried Wai, Kalhan Marc Challu

Galaxy Gladiators Lantau

Overseas Players: Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Seekkuge Prasanna (SL), James Franklin (NZ), Cameron Delport (RSA), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Chetan Suryawanshi (SGP)
Domestic Players: Karandeep Singh, Haroon Arshad, Imran Arif, Shahid Wasif, Amandeep Singh, Li Kai-ming, Moner Dar, Muhammad Balal, Mohammed Osama, Awais Mohammad

Hong Kong Island United

Overseas players: Kamran Akmal (Pak), Mohammad Irfan (Pak), David Wiese (RSA), Luke Ronchi (NZ), Hussain Talat (Pak), Ryan Ten Doeschate (NED)
Domestic Players: Tanwir Afzaal, Ehsan Khan, Yasim Murtaza, Zeeshan Ali, Daniyal Bukhari, Ahsan Abbsai, Suhaib Ahmad, Jason Lui, Chris Carter, Hamed Khan

Hung Hom JD Jaguars

Overseas players: Darren Sammy (WI), Ben Laughlin (Aus), Riki Wessels (Eng), Johan Botha (RSA/Sydney Sixers), Roelof van der Merwe (Ned)
Domestic Players: Kinchit Shah (Capt), Nizakat Khan, Tanveer Ahmed, Adil Mehmood, Kyle Christie, Ninad Deveng Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Scott Mckechnie, Damien Yee, Aarush Bhagwat, Rana Nasrulla

Kowloon Cantons

Overseas Players: Dwayne Smith (WI), Wahab Riaz (Pak), Samit Patel (Eng), Ashar Zaidi (Eng), Paul van Meekeren (Ned)
Domestic Players: Babar Hayat, Ehsan Nawaz, Waqas Khan, Ryan Buckley, Adeel Shafrique, Hussain Butt, Hassan Khan, Simandeep Singh, Sunny Bhimsaria, Saad Mahmood, Bobby Chan

T20 Blitz

Date: 6-11 February, 2018
Veune: Tin Kwong Road
Tickets: $1,300, $600, $350, $200, $20 from Ticketflap

Hong Kong Finish Third in Maiden ICC World Cricket League Campaign

Hong Kong capped their maiden ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) campaign with a major exclamation point, hammering Papua New Guinea by 94 runs to finish third in the league.

Anshuman Rath and Babar Hayat – as they have done throughout the WCLC – starred with a 142-run partnership that formed the basis of Hong Kong’s mammoth total of 323-4.

Although a maiden One Day International century again narrowly avoided Hayat, who fell for 89, Rath batted all 50 overs in registering an unbeaten 143 off 137 balls – his second ton in the WCLC campaign.

Rath, who only recently turned 20, finished as the leading run-scorer in the league with 678 runs at an average of 75.33.

From the time Hayat was dismissed for an innings that came off just 80 balls and included 5 sixes, Hong Kong launched 98 runs off the last eight overs – atoning for Wednesday’s encounter where PNG restricted HK to just 60 from the last 10.

In reply, PNG lost early wickets for the second game in a row, falling to 20-3 in the first 6 overs. Nadeem Ahmed again caused problems, taking 2-36 from his 9 overs to finish as the tournament’s equal leading wicket taker with 24.

PNG did recover from 90-6 to post 229 but the result was always firmly in control for Hong Kong.

Although Scotland’s win over Kenya meant Hong Kong could only move up one place into third on the ladder, coach Simon Cook was delighted with the consistency and development his side showed over the two and half year league.

“It was a very good sign of where we are – we posted 300 plus in three games which shows we are getting more consistent in our batting areas, although I thought we left a few runs out there but that score was always going to be tough to chase. Our bowlers stood up again and were counted taking three wickets early,” Cook said.

“The journey you look at with our players a lot of them have come on a lot. The standouts are Anshy and Babar. Babar went up to number three two years ago and has started to take charge since then and for Anshuman to come on the way he has and Nadeem and don’t forget Mark Chapman who has gone onto better things in Auckland so there are a lot of success stories.”

“Very happy with the finishing position – we targeted second but the margins were very small and we were only a few runs away from winning it. It’s a very encouraging time – if you look at the other Associates around us now their age is a lot older than us so it’s a very exciting time for Hong Kong cricket.”

Captain Babar Hayat echoed the thoughts of the coach and was immensely proud of his team.

“Very happy with the way we finished – we could have won this league with the way we lost against the Netherlands. The way we trained and prepared we were right up for it and everything came together.”

“We didn’t know when we started how we would go but after five or six games we realised that we were good enough to contend and at least finish in the top four.”

“The way Anshy has developed in the World Cricket League has been incredible. The way he played today was amazing he just rotated the strike and then lifted the rate at the end. It was great to watch.”

“I’m really proud of the way I played I knew that if I scored runs it would be important our team and it started in the four day game where I took my time and then I got in and scored and got confidence coming into these games. It’s always nice to do well as captain.”

Hong Kong beat Papua New Guinea by 93 runs

Hong Kong 323-4, 50 overs (Anshy Rath 143 not out, Babar Hayat 89; John Reva 2-46)

Papua New Guinea 230 all out, 42.2 overs (Kiplin Doriga 89, Alei Nao 46; Ehsan Nawaz 4-54)

Additional reporting/images: hkcricket

Hong Kong secure World Cup Qualifier Berth With Win Over PNG

Hong Kong sealed their place in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers as captain Babar Hayat helped his team to 23-run win over Papua New Guinea.

With the top four teams from the World Cricket League Championship progressing to the qualifiers in Zimbabwe next year, Hong Kong knew that a victory over PNG in one of their two matches would be enough to book their ticket.

They did that on the back of inspirational skipper Babar Hayat, who backed up his marathon unbeaten 214 against PNG in the First Class game last week with a match-high top score of 77 from 120 balls.

He shared 50-run partnerships with Anshuman Rath (37) and debutant Scott McKechnie (29) as Hong Kong built a strong platform at 177-3 with eight overs to go. But some accurate PNG bowling at the death restricted HK to 230 from 50 overs on what was a good batting surface.

In reply, Hong Kong got a dream start with Nadeem Ahmed (2-31) striking in the very first over. Tanwir Afzal (2-32) then struck twice more and Aizaz Khan (1-37) picked up a wicket with his first ball to reduce PNG to 4-30 in the 10th over.

But Mahura Dai and Sese Bau rebuilt the PNG innings with a 98-run stand to get the Hong Kong heart-rates rising. Nadeem provided the crucial breakthrough and Hong Kong continued to chip away through the lower order with PNG keeping the required rate under control deep into the chase.

Though eventually two run-outs in the 46th over sealed the contest and Hong Kong will now play PNG in their final World Cricket League Championship match looking to potentially finish as high as second on the ladder.

Simon Cook said after the match, “End of a long journey which started over two years ago, so to culminate now in our qualification is fantastic and we look forward to try and finish as high up the table as we can in the last game. The roller coaster nature of this game meant it was quite relieving to get off the field with a win.”

“It’s great to get qualification but there is still one game to go and there is still a chance to finish second, which is important for the sports institute points so there’s still something on the last game, ” added Cook.

“The achievement is huge, this is our first year in the top division and to come from where we were in Division 3 to where we are now, we are up there challenging, and if results went our way in the other game we would have had a shot at first place. All of the losses that we’ve had were within our control at stages and a win in one of those and that’s the difference between potentially winning this league.”

“With the population and facilities we have, this is unbelievable what the players have done against countries with far more resources and facilities. We have a young nucleus of a side and we have now retained our World Cricket League spot for the next cycle as well, which will allow them to kick on further.”

“The total we got was probably 30 runs light, we were very slow in the middle of the game in rotating the strike and the boundaries didn’t come.”

“Having the good start with the ball was crucial and then the partnership in the middle started to take the game away from us but a rush of blood from Dai saw him get caught on the boundary and that was the turning point to get us back in it and put the screws on.”

“Babar’s getting runs consistently, it was a little bit slow but it shows where he is at now in that he makes 77 and he is still a bit critical of himself so that’s an indication of how far we’ve come and that we need to do more than just making scores.”

Hong Kong 230/8 beat PNG 207 all out by 23 runs

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.

What Are the Cricket Sixes?

The Sixes started in 1992 but it’s been five years since the last tournament, so here’s a brief guide to what’s going on!

It’s just like traditional cricket and all the the regular laws of game apply except that each match only takes around 45 minutes to complete.

Why? As the name suggests the game is six players per side compared with the usual 11, which means once the bowler and wicket-keeper are in position there aren’t many fieldsmen that the batting team need to evade to hit lots of ball to an over the boundaries.

Each team faces five overs each, and everyone (except for the wicketkeeper) is required to bowl one over each.

Batsmen are forced to retire at 31, but can come back in once all other batsmen have been dismissed or have retired. This can make for some interesting situations at the end of the innings with the lower-order taking risky singles knowing that if they are out, their in-form batsman can come back in.

This year at the Hong Kong World Sixes, seven international teams plus hosts Hong Kong will play 23 matches over just two days. The eight teams are split into two groups, with the results determining the seeding positions for the second day.

Finals day includes four quarter-finals, with the four losers heading into the plate tournament, while the remaining four teams compete for the major title.

South Africa are the defending champions from 2012 and they will face Hong Kong in the opening game at 8am on Saturday morning. For the full schedule of game times click here.

Hong Kong will be captained by Babar Hayat, who missed out by one vote on winning the player of the tournament award in 2012.

The squad also contains fellow big-hitters Nizakat Khan and Jamie Atkinson, who also experience in the Sixes format.

Hong Kong Squad:
Babar Hayat (Captain), Nizakat Khan, Aizaz Khan, Ehsan Khan, Ehsan Nawaz, Jamie Atkinson, Tanveer Ahmed.

HK Cricket Sixes
Date: 28-29 October, 2017
Venue: Kowloon Cricket Club
Tickets: $2,400, $1,300, $1,000, $700, $600, $350 from Ticketflap

Additional reporting and images: HK cricket

Afghanistan Humble Hong Kong Inside Two Days

Afghanistan thrashed Hong Kong by an innings and 173 runs inside two days as the hosts who went into the match confident of giving the Afghans a game were humbled.

Afghanistan Captain Ashgar Stanikzai (58*) and Rahmat Shah (34*) resumed at the crease with Afghanistan already holding a 128 run lead going into the second days play (270-2). Stanikzai bought up an excellent century with another towering 6 over the leg side as Hong Kong were made to pay dearly in dropping him the evening before.

Shah also made his way through to a well compiled 50 as the lead grew past 200. Ehsan Khan made the breakthrough with Shah being well caught at long off by Waqas Khan for 57 (363-3). Nizakat Khan was bought on to bowl and had instant success with Stanikzai being well caught by Anshuman Rath for 125 off 129 balls (367-4).

Mohammad Nabi and Nasir Jamal set out after the lunch break with positive intent with Nabi in particular taking full value of the short straight boundaries in bringing up a superb half century off just 39 balls including five 6s.

Nabi fell for 63 off 44 balls with Kyle Christie picking up his first wicket of the innings and with that the declaration came with Afghanistan finishing on 465-5 (lead of 323 on first innings).

Matt Stiller and Chris Carter returned to the crease with Hong Kong 323 behind on first innings and 57 overs left in the day. Dawlat Zadran got Afghanistan off to the best possible start by dismissing Carter first ball of the innings.

Dawlat proceeded to bowl with hostility and pace and was rewarded with the wicket of Hong Kong captain Babar Hayat (18) courtesy of a top edged pull to Nasir Jamal at mid-wicket. Stiller moments after being struck two painful blows by Zadran became Rashid Khan’s firstwicket of the innings stumped for 4. Nizakat Khan Retired hurt on 10 after a blow to his hand fending off another fast short pitched delivery from the rampaging Zadran and at this point Hong Kong were teetering on 39-3. Rath and Waqas Khan guided Hong Kong through to Tea with no further loss finishing on 56-3 a deficit of 267.

Nabi removed Waqas Khan immediately after tea and Rashid Khan once again came to the fore dismissing the returning Nizakat Khan lbw for 26. (88-5). Anshuman Rath continued to bat with maturity and fought hard against the Afghanistan spin attack whilst wickets continued to tumble at the other end.

Rath bought up a deserved half century and remained undefeated on 59 when Kyle Christie became the last wicket to fall. Hong Kong were bowled out in their second innings for 150 and Afghanistan were comprehensive winners by an innings and 173 runs.

Rashid Khan (AFG) was declared as Man of the Match for his figures of 5-65 and 2-45.

Afghanistan 465 for 5 dec (Stanikzai 125, Ahmadi 108) beat Hong Kong 142 (Hayat 39, Rashid 5-65) & 150 (Rath 59*, Zahir 4-16) by an innings and 173 runs.

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket