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Women’s National Cricket Squad Announced

A 17-player national squad for the 2016-17 season has been announced by the HK Cricket Association.

The squad was selected after an extended trial and Director of Cricket and Head Coach of the women’s squad Charlie Burke is delighted about the selection: “The commitment and effort of the open squad players has made it really tough for the selectors to pick the National Squad. It is great to see a number of the players performing so well in club cricket such Shanzeen Shahzad has scored nearly 600 runs and taken 26 wickets in both forms of the game, Kary Chan has scored just under 500 runs and taken a few wickets.”

“Three of our players have played senior Men’s cricket during the season including Emma Lai, Pull To and Mariko Hill. We are as hungry for success and strong as we have ever been in the time I have been involved in Hong Kong Cricket and with the next 5 months of hard training before the Indian tour. We will be a hard side to beat”

“Our goal is to qualify for the Women’s World Cup and we will work as hard as ever to achieve this goal,” Burke said.

The women’s squad have an exciting 2016 to look froward to with a pre-tour to India in September and the ICC-Asia Women’s T20 Championships in October. The competition there will include China, Nepal and Thailand with the winners going to the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers.

2016-17 Hong Kong Women’s National Squad:
Ka Man (Betty) Chan
Ka Ying (Kary) Chan
Lemon Cheung
Yasmin Daswani
Jenefer Davies
Ishitaa Gidwani
Keenu Gill
Mariko Hill
Sin Yee (Cindy) Ho
Lau Ping (Amanda) Kwok
Marina Lamplough
Wing Kai (Emma) Lai
Sidra Nasreen
Chan Sau Ha
Shanzeen Shahzad
Yee Shan (Pull) To
Ruchitha Venkatesh

New Cricket Pitches at Gin Drinkers Bay

The Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) announced today, after HKCA President Rodney Miles signed a long term lease with the Environmental Protection Department, that three new cricket pitches will be built on 4.48-hectares of land at Gin Drinkers Bay in Kwai Chung.

HKCA CEO Tim Cutler is excited about what the new grounds can offer: “The new facility will create further opportunities to promote the sport’s growth by hosting school and community programmes during the week to league matches across junior, women’s and men’s cricket on the weekend.”

Despite the loss of cricket fields in recent years, the Hong Kong team has appeared in consecutive World Twenty20 tournaments and risen to an all-time high world ranking – establishing the Dragons as one of Hong Kong’s highest ranked major sports team.

“Whilst this is no means an elite facility with respect to allowing Hong Kong to host international fixtures, it is a key acquisition to release pressure on our development programmes and recreational leagues.” Cutler stated. “We thank the various government departments who have supported us in this project. Our special recognition goes to the Kwai Tsing District Council who gave us the all-important local approval and this is vindication of the superb work being done by our coaches and cricket officers in the area. In addition to the HKCA, there are other organisations who operate amazing programmes in our community using cricket as a tool for positive social change. Operations Breakthrough, Go Front, and the HKSKH Lady MacLehose Centre Services for Ethnic Minorities are three great examples, and we look forward to working closer still with these groups in their efforts.”

Construction will take place soon, with the view of having the grounds available for use at the start of 2016-17 season.

source: HK Cricket Association

Women’s Rugby Grand Championship Finals Results 2016

Grand Championship

Valley Black 12-10 Gai Wu Falcons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30

National 15s WNL1-A: Grand Championship

City Sparkles 8-5 Valley Red
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 15:00

National 15s WNL1-B: Grand Championship

HKCC 17-7 HK Scottish
@ KGV, Kick-off: 16:30

National 10s: Grand Championship

Tin Shui Wai 5-10 Revolution SRC
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30

HK Cricket Match Reports: Saturday 12 March, 2016

Saturday Championship – 12 March 2016

Saturday Championship Division 1

KCC Saracens v HKCC Witherers
At Hong Kong Cricket Club, KCC Saracens crushed HKCC Witherers to put themselves on top of the points table.

It was a very short game as Tanveer Ahmed picked up 4/17 in a devastating opening spell that saw Witherers slump to 6/14 after electing to bat first upon winning the toss. Extras (35) were by far the biggest contributor to the Witherers score of 74 all out in 24.5 overs with only two HKCC batsmen reaching double figures.

Saracens had little bother in knocking off the runs with Simandeep Singh’s unbeaten 24 enough to see them home in less than 15 overs.
At HKCC: HKCC Witherers 74 in 24.5 overs lost to KCC Saracens 2/75 from 14.4 overs by seven wickets.

KCC Crusaders v KCC Tartars
Runs were a little easier to come by at Kowloon Cricket Club where KCC Crusaders enhanced their prospects of staying in the top flight with a bonus-point victory over rivals KCC Tartars.

Crusaders won the toss and elected to bowl first and they restricted Tartars to 4/50 in the early stages with Aditya Kanthan picking up all four wickets in a spell of 4/14 off seven overs. Afzaal Haider (38) and Kalhan Challu (41*) provided some resistance later on as Tartars finished their innings on 7/146 from 35 overs.

Crusaders lost two early wickets but an unbroken third wicket partnership of 138 between Ravi Sujanani (70*) and Ashley Caddy (62*) got them home in 27.1 overs.
At KCC: KCC Tartars 7/146 from 35 overs lost to KCC Crusaders 2/147 from 27.1 overs by eight wickets.

Saturday Championship Division 2

SCC Lancers v Laguna Gully
At Mission Road, SCC Lancers beat Laguna Gully by four wickets in a game dominated by two batsmen.

Laguna Gully opted to bat first after winning the toss and they scored 178 in 33.4 overs with Shekhar Sharma top scoring with 81. Rahul Tonapi had a great day with the ball for SCC Lancers as he claimed 5/24 from 3.4 overs.

In reply, Soma Nair carried his team home with a fine unbeaten 76 as SCC Lancers eased to victory in 31.5 overs. For Laguna Gully, Ali Shabaz was the pick of the bowlers with 3/32 from his seven over spell.
At Mission Road: Laguna Gully 178 from 33.4 overs lost to SCC Lancers 6/179 from 31.5 overs by four wickets.

Taipans CC v HKU CC
At PKVR Park, Taipans CC continued their unrelenting charge to the Division 2 title with a narrow victory over a determined HKU CC team.

Taipans elected to bat first after winning the toss and they amassed a total of 8/230 from their 35 overs with Gurjinder Singh (56), Jagmeet Brar (31), Rishi Srivastava (30) and Zeeshan Haider (38) all making useful contributions. Haroon Bashir was the pick of the bowlers for HKU claiming 3/39 from his seven overs.

HKU made a spirited reply with Ashutosh Balasaria (47) and Chamila Panduwawala (36) the top scorers but HKU could not quite do enough to overhaul the Taipans’ score and their innings finished 30 runs short at 9/200.
At PKVR Park: Taipan CC 8/230 from 35 overs beat HKU CC 9/200 from 35 overs by 30 runs.

HK Cricket Match Reports: Sunday 13 March, 2016

Sunday Championship – 13th March 2016

HKCA Dragons v HKCC Wanderers
The HKCA Dragons returned to Hong Kong Cricket Club this week but they couldn’t make the most of a promising start against HKCC Wanderers.

HKCC Wanderers won the toss and elected to bowl first. Although they captured an early wicket, the Dragons’ batsmen managed to keep the Wanderers bowling attack at bay. Skipper Damien Yee and James Chan put together a second wicket of 89 runs that lifted Dragons to 1/97 when Yee fell for a well-struck 55. Chan fell shortly after for 34 after which the Dragons batting fell way and they were all out for 144. Harry Ledger cleaned up the tail to finish with figures of 3/6 from 3.5 overs.

The Wanderers opening pair put on 67 runs for the first wicket before Craig Johnstone was out for 30. Stuart Tohill (62*) and Harry Bailey (29*) concluded proceedings with an unbroken stand of 81 for the second wicket with the chase wrapped up in the 19th over.
At HKCC: HKCA Dragons 144 from 46.5 overs lost to HKCC Wanderers 1/148 from 18.1 overs by nine wickets.

SLCC v DLSWCC
Rain brought about an earlier conclusion to the match at Mission Road after which Headwin Tritons SLCC were declared the winners over DLSWCC JKN thanks to a superior run-rate.

DLSWCC JKN opted to bat first after winning the toss but they were in early trouble at 3/8 thanks to three early strikes by Aizaz Butt. Anas Khan held the DLSWCC JKN’s innings together with a solid 60 but his was a lone hand and they were eventually all out for 157 in the 38th over. Aziz Butt finished with 3/44 from ten overs while Mukhtar Ahmed mopped up the tail-enders to finish with 3/15 from 5.2 overs.

The SLCC reply got off to a shaky start as they lost two early wickets however, a partnership of 78 between Khizar Hayat (46) and Akbar Khan (35) got them to 111 when the third wicket fell. Shortly afterwards, there was a short break for rain before the players got back on the field although there was no adjustment to the target score. At 4/128 after 28.4 overs, conditions deteriorated again and the players left the field for the last time. The umpires quickly calculated the run-rates and SLCC were declared the winners; earning themselves a bonus point in the process.
At Mission Road: DLSWCC JKN 157 from 37.2 overs lost to Headwin Tritons SLCC 4/128 from 28.4 overs by superior run-rate

HK Cricket Match Report: Women’s Twenty20 Cup – 13 March 2016

Women’s Twenty20 Cup – 13 March 2016

CCC Fung Wong v USRC
In the first match of the day, CCC Fung Wong’s Kary Chan made the highest score in the competition this season with 132 not out in a total of 0/204 against USRC.

In reply, the USRC women, batted out their 20 overs and finished on 6/73 with Sweta top scoring with 14.
At PKVR Reservoir: CCC Fung Wong 0/204 from 20 overs beat USRC 6/73 from 20 overs by 131 runs.

DLSWCC Wasps v HKCC Willow Wielders
A couple of rain interruptions affected the second match of the day between DLSWCC Wasps and HKCC Willow Wielders.

A delayed start saw the match reduced to 19 overs per side after which DLSWCC Wasps batted first and scored 8/146. Shanzeen Shahzad top scored with 35 while Manpreet Kaur and Jaswinder Kaur scored 34 and 24 respectively. Marina Lamplough was the best of the HKCC bowlers with figures of 4/29 from her four over spell.

Another rain break between innings saw the HKCC Willow Wielders target reduced to 115 from 15 overs. The Willow Wielders had little trouble reaching the revised target thanks to unbeaten knocks of 61 by Mariko Hill and 39 by Marina Lamplough.
At PKVR Reservoir: DLSWCC Wasps 8/146 from 19 overs lost to HKCC Willow Wielders (target reduced to 115 from 15 overs) 1/116 from 13.4 overs by nine wickets.

photo: Takumi Photography

Scotland Beat Hong Kong by Eight Wickets

Scotland has sealed an eight-wicket victory over Hong Kong chasing a revised target of 76 runs in a rain-affected match in Nagpur on Saturday.

After Hong Kong posted 127 for seven in its 20 overs, Scotland passed the revised target to finish at 78 for two in eight overs, and also record its first victory in a global ICC tournament.

Earlier, A 49-run partnership between vice-captain Mark Chapman (40) and 18-year-old Anshuman Rath (21) formed the foundation for the Hong Kong innings.

Rain stopped play at in the final over of Hong Kong’s innings, and Kinchit Shah and Aizaz Khan came back to the crease for three balls to add seven runs and push Hong Kong to a modest total to 127 for seven.

Rain during the innings break led to the revision of the Scotland target and a reduction of its innings to nine overs. Its batsmen came out swinging, hitting boundaries to ensure that Scotland stayed about the required run rate. Matthew Cross top scored with 22, while for Hong Kong, Aizaz Khan and Nadeem Ahmed claimed a wicket apiece.

Captain Tanwir Afzal felt his side had let an opportunity slip through its fingers: “I think I am quite happy with the first two games, we fought really hard, but we lack of experience and maturity. So we can play better than we showed here. We did not take our chances tonight.”

Coach Simon Cook agreed: “To a certain extent, yes, we are an inexperienced side. You take Ryan Campbell out and our average age is 20. We don’t have a lot of grounds in Hong Kong, so our domestic structure also lends itself to infrequent cricket. It becomes tough to get the group together.”

“I am a little bit disappointed as to how we played, because we are a better side than what we’ve showed in these three games. We’ve certainly proved that in the past, with the recent World Cricket League Championship and ICup matches, that we are a competitive side. I’d like to see that we keep making progress.

“That inexperience comes in as how to play on those slower pitches, understanding that 140 to 145 is actually a really competitive total and not trying to go for the 150s or 160s. There’s a combination of things, but I certainly would have liked us to win at least one game in this tournament.”

The coach continued: “A few things that we’ve been working on haven’t quite clicked. One of our strengths in the past has been our partnerships, having batters batting through the majority of the innings, and finishing the end of the innings explosively. And the fielding, we worked really, really hard with Trevor Penney who came over and did some work with us prior to coming away. They are controllable things for us, and when we play against better teams, you want to try and do your controllables very well, and everything else hopefully fits in.”

Looking ahead, Cook said: “We’re so new to this level of cricket, this is the most cricket we’ve ever played, so we are kind of happy! Having said that, the more cricket, the better for us, and I understand that there may be frustration of how the calendar is scheduled. I think when we find our footing a little bit more in the Associate calendar, then we’ll probably want more cricket.”

Source: HK Cricket Association
Photo: ICC Cricket

Valley and Gai Wu Contest Third Straight Women’s Grand Final

Valley Black will take on Gai Wu Falcons for the third successive Grand Final between the two clubs at King’s Park today (16.30). Valley were unbeaten in league play for the second consecutive year extending their winning streak to 28 matches – the longest such streak in Hong Kong Rugby.

It is a fitting match-up as the two clubs have dominated the elite edge of women’s rugby in recent seasons. The last six Grand Finals have seen at least one of the two sides taking part, with Valley claiming four titles to Gai Wu’s two during that period. In their head-to-heads over the past two finals, the clubs split the honours with Falcons handing Valley its last loss in domestic competition in 2014, while Valley ran out 20-10 winners over Falcons to claim the title in 2015.

The Falcons enter the match as the underdogs after having dropped both of their games to Valley this season, a 15-3 defeat in Round 7, followed by a more comprehensive 49-12 loss in their most recent outing on the last weekend of the season, when Valley fullback Olivia Coady ran riot for five tries. Despite the margin of defeat, the 12 points posted by Falcons is the most that Valley conceded to any opponent in the league, when they scored a staggering 565 points in 12 games.

Valley continue to reap the rewards of a long-term vision implemented when coach Chris Garvey arrived at the club following its 2012 Grand Championship. “We lost 9 players after that season and there was a lot of work to do to re-build. The next season we had 25 players competing across the 15s and 10s league. I remember one Saturday when we had back-to-back games and had to finish a 10s match with seven players on the pitch, pulling girls off so we could start a 15s game on the next pitch with 12 players.

“But we gave ourselves three years to re-build with a focus on sustainable growth. We focused on our infrastructure as if we got that right, the results should take care of themselves. We were able to get good coaches and recruit some strong players not just from overseas, but also from local universities and schools. Now we’re at the point where there are only three or four players running out that aren’t playing for Hong Kong or eligible to play for Hong Kong. We have two full squads this season and our seconds went from winning only one match last year to reaching the Grand Championship final tomorrow,” Garvey adds.

Valley’s numbers are holding strong for the re-match with Gai Wu says Garvey, “There are always a few niggles and we’ve had to leave vice captain Karen So on the bench, as she hasn’t fully recovered from injury, which hurts because she’s a prop/hooker and our front row has been a bit light this year. But other than that, we’ve held up well.”

That weakness up front contrasts with Gai Wu, whose main strength is its forward pack and set piece. For Garvey that means a contrast in styles and strategies in the final: “Our backbone is the midfield. We’re good at broken play and anything off the cuff is to our advantage. Our weakness is probably our set piece. The forwards have scored tries for us, but not as many as in previous seasons. I’m being a perfectionist really, as the forwards have done the job for us this season, but I don’t think we’ve developed our play up front as much as we have across the backline this season.”

“Gai Wu’s strengths are their set piece and overall fitness, which is slightly better than ours. They have a solid kicking game and I think they will look to play very structured rugby. But I’m confident. We don’t have to chase this game or change our style, we just need to keep calm, soak up any pressure and trust our systems. If we can restrict Gai Wu to two or three phases, we’re in with a chance, but if they’re still in it with ten minutes remaining anything can happen.”

Falcons coach Lai Yiu Pang is angling to have his side in just that position: “Last week’s win over USRC Tigers gave us a lot of confidence and we’re picking up momentum late in the year. All the pressure is on Valley and we’re optimistic for tomorrow.”

Lai knows that defence is the key to Gai Wu’s championship hopes, saying: “Defence needs to be our primary focus. We need to put Valley under heavy pressure and that starts when they have the ball.”

While missing the inspirational but injured Christy Cheng Ka Chi, a leader for Falcons and the Hong Kong Sevens squad, Lai says the rest of his squad are fit. “Up front we have everyone we’d like to have and our training this week, and really since the end of the league, has been positive with over 30 players out for every session. That was a big help in getting us to the stage to achieve what we needed to in the semi-final over the Tigers.”

All today’s Grand Championship Final’s fixture details here.

photos: Takumi Photography