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T20: Hong Kong Beat Scotland by Nine Wickets

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Hong Kong beat Scotland by nine wickets in a shortened inaugural Twenty20 International match at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.

Babar Hayat took the Man of the Match honours, scoring 26 not out in the 10 overs a side match. “I just went in and had a look at a few balls. I targeted their off-spinner. If it was in my range, I just went for it.”

The game was delayed due to a wet ground but when play started, Hong Kong won the toss and decided to field first – and took the first wicket just five balls into the match. A great start to the first ever ICC recognised T20 international to take place in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s bowlers took wickets at regular intervals to keep the powerful Scottish batting order in check. George Munsey was the highest scorer for Scotland with 17 runs, Calum MacLeod scored 16 before he was run out. Scotland finished the 10 overs with 66/7.

Haseeb Amjad led the Hong Kong bowlers with 1/8 off his two overs. Nadeem Ahmed followed closely with 1/9.

Hong Kong v Scotland- 30 January 2016

Opening batsman Jamie Atkinson hit a four off the first ball of Hong Kong’s innings and some attacking batting brought him a tally of 20 runs off seven balls before he was caught in the third over. His opening partner Anshuman Rath scored 20 not out. It was number three batsman Babar Hayat who took the spotlight with 26 runs off 14 balls. A big six in the seventh over sealing Hong Kong’s victory.

Safyaan Sharif took the only wicket for Scotland for 15 runs.

Hong Kong v Scotland- 30 January 2016

The second T20 international between Hong Kong and Scotland will start tomorrow at 1pm.

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Women’s Premier League Cricket

The first ever fixture of the Women’s Premier League will be played as a curtain raiser to Hong Kong’s Twenty20 International clash against Scotland at Tin Kwong Road Recreational Ground on Sunday 31 January, 2016.

The “Sail” squad will take on the “Bauhinia” squad, with the first ball being bowled at 8:15am, in a match that aims at providing a “best vs the best” competition to minimise the gap between club and international representative cricket.

With the lure of playing in major global tournaments and gaining support from Hong Kong Sports Institute, 2016 is an important year for women’s cricket in Hong Kong. The premier league tournament will give national selectors an opportunity to observe how the players perform under pressure.

After spending time with Melbourne Renegades as an Associate Rookie in the Women’s Big Bash League, “Bauhinia” captain Mariko Hill is back in Hong Kong and ready to bring her experience to the team.

“Mariko Hill will no doubt open the bowling and bat in the top four. Her pace is as quick as anyone’s in associate women’s cricket. It will be great to see if she can develop her bowling at an end of an innings also.” said Director of Cricket and Women’s Head Coach Charlie Burke.

“Her WBBL experience will help the squad by understanding how important preparation is and also showing that there are a lot of opportunities now opening up in women’s cricket outside of Hong Kong.”

The Women’s Premier League will be a three-match series and form the main selection guide for the Hong Kong squad over the coming 12 months.

“I think we might get a few surprises with some other players stepping up and keen to take on extra responsibilities within the team,” said Burke.

The second fixture will be played on the 7th of February at 1pm. The third game will be scheduled shortly.

Women’s Premier League
Date: 8:15am, 31 January, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreational Ground
Tickets: Free

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 30 January, 2016

Match Report: HK Scottish Sekongers 76-10 Discovery Bay Pirates – 23 January, 2016

“Playing Scottish in this weather is just like being at Murrayfield,” said the man from Discovery Bay. “Yeah, but without the Bovril,” was the dour reply from the Scottish supporter, as he sought warmth on the concrete seats of Shek Kip Mei Stadium. At least it wasn’t raining. With both teams in the lower half of the 10s League an evenly contested match was expected. And for once both teams has reserves, even if some had come straight from a 7s competition at Sandy Bay.

The Sekongers kicked-off, Andrea caught the ball for Pirates, ran to the try line and scored. Simple. It was too far for the conversion, but 5-0 to DB Pirates. The HK Sekongers fought back and twice Hui Man-ling, the speedy winger, forgot her inability to catch and scored under the posts. Karis Cheng converted. 14-5 to HK Sekongers.

However, DB Pirates replied with a try in the corner. Again too far for the conversion, but at 14-10, the game was evenly balanced. Alas for the Pirates not. Neon Chau scored a try for HKS Sekongers, followed by Fong Siu-yau, and two more by Hui Man-ling. Karis managed two of the conversion. Halftime score 38/10 to HK Sekongers.

Halftime, so often a speed bump in HKS fortunes this season, proved to be a mere water break as they continued their onslaught. Andie Ma scored the next try, with Karis Cheng converting. Then Karis scored and converted a try herself. Followed by Li Sze-ting (Try); Hui Man-ling (Fifth Try); Karis Cheng (Conversion); and Li Sze-ting (Second Try); 69-10 for HKS Sekongers.

With the game approaching fulltime, the Sekongers, who had until then played well, suddenly became error prone. Chan Po-ki dived for the try line, only to be taken down by the Pirates defence and knocked-on. In fairness to Pirates they had not given up, in spite of the score. As the referee announced, “Last play,” and set the scrum, Pirates were determined to get one more try. But the Sekongers seemed only interested in increasing their penalty count. Penalty after penalty, 10 meter after 10 meter, the Sekongers went back. The Pirates were now in the Sekongers half and deserved to score. But luck was with the Sekongers. Somehow Pirates lost possession. Once again the ball was passed to Hui Man-ling, who outran the defence, scored her sixth try under the posts, which Karis Cheng converted in the 25th minutes of the twenty minutes half.

The full-time score HKS Sekongers 76-10 DB Pirates was not a fair reflection on the Pirates who fought hard and never gave up.
DB Pirates Player of the Match – Andrea.
HK Scottish Sekongers Player of the Match – Hui Man-ling.

DB Pirates 76-10 HK Scottish Kukris
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 15:00
HKS Sekongers: Anna Kam, Po-Ki Chan, Tung-Hoi Jim, Scarlet Ma Wan, Neon Chau, Sze-Ying Li, Karis Cheng, Andie Ma, Siu-Yau Fong, Man-Ling Hui
Tries: Man-Ling Hui (6), Sze-Ying Li (2), Neon Chau, Karis Cheng, Andie Ma, Siu-Yau Fong
Conversions: Karis Cheng (8)

Photos: Rabbit in Black

Women’s Rugby Results – 23 January, 2016

Premiership

HKFC Ice 0-46 Valley Black
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00

CWB Phoenix 15-5 Tai Po Dragons
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00

Kowloon 3-35 Gai Wu Falcons
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00

National 15s

Valley Red 10-15 Gai Wu Fawkes
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 15:00

CWB Pheasants 10-10 City
@ KGV, Kick-off: 16:30

USRC Tigers 15-0 Revolution SRC
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

HKCC 41-0 Tai Po Dragons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 15:00

HKFC Fire 0-27 Police Sirens
@ Police Boundary Street, Kick-off: 18:00

National 10s

Photo: Phoebe Leung

Hong Kong Beat Scotland by 109 Runs in First ODI

Hong Kong have marked their first official One Day International on home soil with a comprehensive 109-run win in their World Cricket League Championship match against Scotland.

Sent into bat under grey skies at the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground, the home side posted 259 thanks to a record 170-run partnership between Anshuman Rath and Nizikat Khan.

In response, captain Tanwir Afzal led from the front with 3-21 from 10 overs to help dismiss Scotland for just 150.

But it was the partnership of Rath and Nizikat, a record in one-day internationals for Hong Kong, that proved most crucial after Hong Kong had wobbled early at 3-55.

Rath was largely the steady hand, scoring his 97 from 136 balls, while Nizikat was more brutal striking at better than a run a ball for most of his innings.

At one stage Hong Kong had reached 3-225 with seven overs to go but some tight Scottish bowling skittled the lower order. The final seven wickets fell for just 34 runs. Ali Evans was the pick of the bowlers for Scotland with 4-41.

But 259 looked a far more intimidating total after Tanwir removed Scotland’s key duo Kyle Coetzer (6) and Matthew Machan (0) in consecutive balls. Spinner Nadeem Ahmed cleaned up the lower order, taking 4-26 off his 8.1 overs. Callum McLeod played a lone hand for the Scots, making 58 off 78 balls.

Man of the Match Anshuman Rath applauded his batting partner Nizikat for helping him reach his highest ODI score. “To be honest, a lot of credit goes to Kat, I was sort of getting edgy as I faced quite a lot of balls but he kept me grounded,” Rath said. “I think the win is a big, big confidence boost that not only we beat them, but beat them in a fairly convincing manner.”

The second ODI is on Thursday with two more Twenty20 matches scheduled for the weekend.

ICC World Cricket League Championship: Hong Kong v Scotland
Date: 9:30am, 26, 28 January, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: Free
More info: One Day International, 50 overs a side

T20 International: Hong Kong v Scotland
Date: 1pm, 30-31 January, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: Free

Match Report: HKCC 41-0 Tai Po Dragons – 23 January, 2016

The weather was reminiscent of a fine UK summers day at King’s Park on round two of the WNL B competition. The HKCC Ladies arrived dressed for the artic conditions making it difficult to bend their legs never mind run. However, with a long and thorough warm up the team in white were ready to go and continue the fine from production in week 1 against Tai Po.

The opening 10 saw a close contest between both forwards packs trying to gain control of the early minutes of the half, only for HKCC to be awarded 3 penalties in a row to charge up the field with former Canadian Carolyn Champion finishing off to make it 5-0 after 10 minutes.

The scrappy contest continued with both sides making errors and seemingly neither side looked like they wanted to score. HKCC began to move up the field and were awarded a lineout on the Tai Po 22. A well worked lineout set up the driving maul and HKCC dove closer to the line with Cheryl Gourley using her strength well to break through a defender to make it 10-0 to the Aberdeen side.

HKCC continued to try and take control of the game with some nice work by the backs, but this game was being won by the forwards and after some nice phases a change of direction saw fiery red Lauren cross the Tai Po line for her first ever try and lead the HKCC ladies into half time at 15-0.

The second half saw the forwards once again show up the backs with Carolyn seemingly do a magic trick from a tackle turned up with the ball with no one home in front of her to double her tally for the day with captain Harriet using her own trick shot to ”convert”.

Continuing the trend Flanker turner centre Chloe Chan got in on the act with a lovely running line to score with a controlled finish and Harriet converted. Chloe double her tally again shortly after with a well worked back move to bring the score to 36 -0 with added kick by Harriet.

With the clock ticking down the final seconds showcased how well the forwards had played with a dominating scrum moving forward helping No 8 Lynda Nazer to pick and drive over and score in the corner to finish the game and giving HKCC a 41-0 win over Tai Po.
Women of the Match: Jo Harvey

HKCC
Jo Harvey, Joan Yip, Carolyn Champion, Lauren Petersen, Nobuko Oda, Chloe Chan, Cheryl Gourley, Lynda Nazer, Emma Chung, Harriet Jameison, Lucy Thomson, Diana Li, Angie Ng, Yana Dimitrova,Steph Zhang, Mhairi McLaughlin, Zoe Wong, Isabella Rivers, Wendy Sham, Kassie Chapel, Katie Rowbottom, Tissia Polycarpe, Kassie Chapel, Brenda Chan, Charlotte Berry.
Tries: Carolyn Champion (2), Cheryl Gourley, Chloe Chan (2), Lynda Nazer, Lauren Petersen.
Conversions: Harriet Jameison (3)

Braidwood Cup Series – Hong Kong v Scotland Day 2 Abandoned

A disappointing sight as the covers remained on and the second day of the ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture between Hong Kong and Scotland at the Mission Road ground in Mong Kok was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.

Match officials made a number of inspections of the field throughout the day, but despite the best efforts of the ground staff, no play was possible.

Braidwood Cup Series – Match Schedule

ICC Intercontinental Cup: Hong Kong v Scotland
Date: 9:30am, 21-24 January, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: Free
More info: First class cricket, 4 day game

T20 International: Hong Kong v Scotland
Date: 1pm, 30-31 January, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: Free