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Hong Kong Plays for World T20 Spot at India2016

Hong Kong is among the fourteen Associate teams who will attempt to outwit, outplay and outlast one another in Ireland and Scotland at the World Twenty20 Qualifier. The six surviving teams after an intense 51-match event in 18 days will earn a ticket to India for the 2016 World Twenty20 next March. With the World T20 scaling back from a biennial event to once every four years from 2016 onwards – and no guaranteed places for Associates in the 50-over World Cup – there is even greater desperation in this tournament.

The event has been trimmed from 16 to 14 teams from the last time it was held in the UAE, while two playoff berths in the knockout stage have also been slashed. Now, only the top six from each group will advance to the playoffs. The respective table-toppers during the round-robin challenge receive immunity until the semi-finals as well as the prize of a guaranteed slot for the main event in India.

Sadly Duckworth-Lewis may play a massive role at this event. Consistent rain washed out many of the official warm-up matches and this may have teams wanting to bat last, with overs reduced and all 10 wickets in hand.

The Groups
Group A: Ireland, Nepal, Hong Kong, PNG, Namibia, USA, Jersey
Group B: Afghanistan, UAE, Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, Kenya, Oman

Hong Kong have had a steady build-up to the tournament, splitting a T20 series with Namibia in May before travelling to England. Irfan Ahmed who has struggled at the Associate tournaments in the past comes into this tournament in excellent touch. The squad is also boosted by the return of vice-captain Mark Chapman in the middle order. Hong Kong’s biggest asset is their pace bowling unit spearheaded by Ahmed, Aizaz Khan and captain Tanwir Afzal, who will all be a handful on seaming wickets.

Format
During the group stage each team will play each other, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw/no-result. The top six sides from the 18-day tournament during which 51 matches will be played, will join the 10 Full Members for the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, which will be held from 11 March to 3 April 2016.

The sides that finish second and third in each of the two groups will play cross-over matches with the two winners joining the table-toppers for the India tournament. The losing sides of the two play-off matches will then play the fourth-placed sides from each of the two groups in cross-over matches with the winners completing the 16-team line-up for the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016.

Catch up with the action at www.icc-cricket.com or www.cricinfo.com

Hong Kong Squad
Tanwir Afzal (c), Mark Chapman (vc), Aizaz Khan, Anas Khan, Anshuman Rath, Babar Hayat, Ehsan Nawaz, Haseeb Amjad, Irfan Ahmed, James Atkinson, Kinchit Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Nizakat Khan, Waqas Barkat, Waqas Khan, Giacomo Lamplough, Charlie Burke (Coach).

Tanwir Afzal Stars as Hong Kong beat Namibia in Second ODI

Tanwir Afzal takes 5 wickets as Hong Kong thrashed Namibia in the second ICC World Cricket League Championship by 8 wickets with more than 14 overs to spare. Namibia won the toss and chose to bat, but after losing by one wicket in the first ODI Hong Kong’s bowlers were on fire and on the back of Afzal’s wonderful opening spell soon had the hosts at 30/8 after 14 overs. The last two wickets added 79 to leave Hong Kong chasing 110 to win. Small totals can be hard to chase, but Irfan Ahmed’s aggressive batting calmed Hong Kong’s nerves and paved the way for a comfortable win.

Hong Kong set Namibia 195 to Win

Nadeem Ahmed smashed 24 off 12 balls including 18 off the last 5 balls of the innings. Hong Kong took 19 from the last over reach 194/9, setting Namibia 195 to win in this the first match of the ICC World Cricket League Championship, 2015-2016/17.

Hong Kong Collapse – Namibia Win by 114 runs

Namibia’s national team cruised to a convincing win over Hong Kong during their first encounter at this year’s International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Intercontinental Cup in Windhoek on Wednesday.

Namibia went into the final day in a commanding position, needing to prevent Hong Kong from scoring 303 runs, but Hong Kong got off to a very good start, and were 48/0, before the young and talented Christopher Coombe was able to make the break through. Shortly after Coombe took another wicket, Bernhard Scholtz stepped into action with two more quick wickets as Hong Kong’s middle order collapsed. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, as Scholtz grabbed another one, Burger snatched up two and JJ Smit one of his own.

With eight wickets down by tea time and only 139 runs on the board. It appeared that Namibia had the match done and dusted. However, there was to be a last fight from the Hong Kong, as Haseeb Amjab and Eshan Nawaz made life difficult for the Namibians.

The Namibians were throwing everything at Hong Kong, until Namibia’s captain Nikolaas Scholtz took things into his own hands. After he scored a fantastic 85 not out in the first innings, as well as a quick fire 29 not out in the second innings, Scholtz proved that he is the kind of captain that can lead from the front, as he took two wickets from his first two balls, leading Namibia to victory, and giving the team their first intercontinental victory of the season.

On Friday the two teams will be tackling each other in the first 50 over match of the World Cricket league

Hong Kong Set 302 to Win

After adding just one run to their overnight score Hong Kong were dismissed for 203 in their first innings. They then endured a long tough day in the field as Namibia built their lead with opener RAH Pitchers scoring 107 not out. Namibia declared just before the close of play on the third day to set Hong Kong 302 to win this first match in the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

Match Status
Namibia 272 & 232/5d
Hong Kong 203 & 3/0 (2.0 ov)
Hong Kong require another 299 runs with 10 wickets remaining

ICC Intercontinental Cup – Hong Kong trail Namibia after Day Two

Haseeb Amjad took 5 for 49 as Hong Kong bowled out Namibia for 272 early on day two. A top order collapse saw Hong Kong in trouble but 50’s from Nizakat Khan and Tanwir Afzal saw HK finish the second day on 202 for 9, trailing by 70 runs

Namibia and Hong Kong are playing the first round of fixtures in cricket’s ICC Intercontinental Cup for eight Associate Nations. The tournament takes place over two years, with the winner getting the chance to play Test cricket

“The ICC Intercontinental Cup is now the platform for emerging nations to fulfill their ambitions of playing Test cricket,” ICC chief executive David Richardson said. “It will therefore be fantastic to see the strongest Associates face off in an exciting competition, with great context, that will showcase world cricket’s growing pool of talent.”

See the live scorecard here

Asian Cricket Council Premier League: Hong Kong v Oman – 3 May, 2014

A quick-fire 38 from Haseeb Amjad was not quite enough as Hong Kong slumped to their second defeat at this year’s Asian Cricket Council Premier League falling 9 runs short of Oman’s 143. A steady bowling performance saw Hong Kong bowl out Oman in the 46 over with Tanwir Afzal and Irfan Ahmed both taking three wickets. An energetic start by Irfan Ahmed who smashed 20 from 10 balls looked to have set Hong Kong on the path to an easy win, but the rest of top order went cheaply and the Omanis picked up wickets at regular intervals to derail the run chase.

Scorecard courtesy of cricinfo

Hong Kong Cricket Sixes cancelled for 2013

Here’s the press release in full, with the amount of corporate sponsorship $ swilling around the SAR and the high profile of the event. The late cancellation and reason hint that the press release is perhaps not the complete story. The Sixes have grown to become a fun high profile event, lets hope it returns in 2014.

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hong Kong Cricket Sixes cancelled for 2013

[Hong Kong, September 11, 2013]: The Hong Kong Cricket Association
(HKCA) today announced “with great regret” the cancellation of the
Hong Kong Cricket Sixes for 2013.
While the HKCA had examined various options to possibly scale back the
tournament in 2013, it was decided that the established history and
tradition of the Sixes remained the paramount concern.

HKCA remains committed to hosting the Cricket Sixes on an annual basis
and are hopeful that the event can return to the local and
international sporting calendar in 2014.
The Association cited a variety of reasons for the decision not to
proceed with the event this October, but the primary concern was the
difficulty in securing sufficient government funding and private
sector backing in the difficult economic climate.

HKCA Executive Committee released their comment on the announcement saying:
We apologise to the many local cricket fans and our many long-serving
corporate supporters for whom this weekend has been a highlight of the
local calendar for many years, but it was decided by the Executive
Committee that it would be better to cancel rather than leave the
association open to a potentially significant financial loss.

The rejection of the HKCA’s request for Hong Kong SAR Government
funding through the Mega Events Fund was a significant blow to the
Association’s plans to mount the tournament and made finding a
corporate underwriter for the tournament a significantly more
expensive proposition in 2013 with the resulting shortened timeframe
to find a title sponsor further exacerbating matters.

HKCA understands the need to approach government, corporates and the
international cricket boards as early as possible and so will very
shortly start work on the 2014 event and will make every effort to
return the Sixes to its rightful place in the International Calendar
next year.

With Hong Kong being the 20th ranked team in world cricket and
considering the Sixes’ unique history and role as the showcase event
for cricket in China and north Asia, we are still struggling to
understand why we were rejected. But we remain thankful for the strong
support we have received in years past from Government bodies like the
Major Sports Executive Committee, LCSD, Home Affairs Bureau and the
Hong Kong Police.

We will make a further approach to the Mega Events Fund for next year
as we believe that the potential of the Cricket Sixes to enhance Hong
Kong’s position as a premier international sporting and tourism
destination remains as strong as ever.

The Association will stay in close contact with the many existing
corporate partners as well as the numerous companies who expressed
interest in supporting the tournament this year to manage their
expectations and rekindle their excitement for a bigger and better
tournament in 2014.

About the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes
Organized by the Hong Kong Cricket Association since 1992, the Hong
Kong Cricket Sixes is the only international cricket event held in
Hong Kong and is fully sanctioned by the world’s governing body for
cricket, the International Cricket Council.

The tournament has been broadcast live since 2008 and in 2012 reached
over 127 million households on the Indian subcontinent, across
Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa, as well
as being packaged for distribution in North America, the United
Kingdom, Europe and China.

ENDS