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Hong Kong Beat Nepal by 6 Wickets

Hong Kong vs Nepal

Tournament hosts Hong Kong began the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup – Asia Qualifiers tournament and their very first international match on home soil with a victory after a calm run-chase saw them defeat Nepal.

Nepal won the toss and elected to bat, but did not have the perfect start losing opening batsman Jyoti Pandey to the fourth ball of their innings. Nirmala Kumari Shahi, who top scored with 18, steered the innings through the first ten overs before being fourth out with the score on 42.

Hong Kong’s bowlers were able to limit the run rate throughout Nepal’s innings with good tight bowling and by taking regular wickets. Nepal’s highest partnership was just 16, and they were all out for 77 with four balls left of their 20 overs.

Skipper Mariko Hill, Ka-Man Chan and Sau-Har Chan each took two wickets for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s response got off to a strong start thanks to opener Sze-Wan Yip who scored 33 runs off just 39 balls. Yasmin Daswani added 15, while Player of the Match Mariko Hill (10 not out) and Shanzeen Shahzad (11 not out) completed a comfortable chase in the 17th over.

Captain Mariko Hill was extremely proud of her team’s performance. “It’s a massive boost for us, it will give us a lot of confidence as we performed how we wanted,” Hill said “We’ve never played international cricket at home so to see our family and friends here means a lot. We’ve got China tomorrow and it will be a completely different game, the HKCC outfield is so small so we will plan tonight and start again tomorrow.”

Match Summary
Nepal 77 all out (19.2 overs),
Hong Kong 78/4 (16.3 overs)
Hong Kong won by 6 wickets (with 21 balls remaining)
Scorecard: www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1059670.html

China vs Thailand

In the first match of the day, Thailand opened the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup – Asia Qualifiers tournament with a big victory over China at Tin Kwong Recreation Ground.

Openers Nattakan Chantam (14) and Sirintra Saensakorat (19) provided a good platform for Thailand. While an unbeaten 24 from Ratanaporn Padunglerd gave Thailand a mid-innings push with 24 not out as they finished their 20 overs with 107 runs.

Zhou Caiyun led China’s bowler with 2/27 in four overs.

It was a one-sided affair when China batted. Zhou Caiyun was caught off the fourth ball of the innings for a duck and they never recovered. The second wicket came in the second over when Song Fengfeng was caught behind for 9 and wickets fell steadily afterwards. China were eventually all out for 32 runs after 12.1 overs without a single player reaching double figures.

Suleeporn Laomi and Wongpaka Liengpraert each took two wickets for Thailand. Player of the Match was Thai Captain Sornnarin Tippocj.

Match Summary
Thailand 107/6 (20 overs)
China 32 all out (12.1 overs)
Thailand won by 75 runs
Scorecard: www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1059669.html

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket

On the Road to England 2017

The Hong Kong Women’s team are eager to shine on home turf during the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 – Asia Qualifier 2016 which starts this Sunday.

China, Nepal, Thailand and Hong Kong will compete in a round-robin tournament where each team will play everyone twice. The top ranked team will earn a place in the global qualifiers for England 2017.

Captain Mariko Hill is looking forward to the tournament. “The pre-tour to India has boosted everyone’s confidence, so I’m sure everyone is looking forward to displaying their abilities.”

“Hosting an ICC event is rare let alone playing on home soil! We understand the conditions better and we hope to use this to our advantage. We can then plan strategies ahead of time according to the ground conditions and the team we are playing against,” said Hill.

“We are among the favourites to win the tournament. I have full faith and confidence in my team mates that we will too, seeing how hard we have trained over the last few months. Although I have some personal goals, the overarching goal for me is simply to contribute as much as I can to the team reaching the ICC World Cup Qualifiers next year,” added the captain.

Chloe Ip is one of the newer members of the Hong Kong team, after being scouted in a programme designed to find Hong Kong-born cricketers abroad.

“I was born in Hong Kong but moved to Australia with Mum and Dad when I was three years old, and my relatives are still live in Hong Kong,” said Ip.

“I don’t think it has really fully sunk in yet. Hopefully I will get picked to play at some stage during the tournament and wear the Hong Kong shirt. It will be an honour. The whole family living here are very excited and proud of the prospect of this happening.”

“Even though I’ve grown up in Australia I haven’t forgotten my roots and family history. Hong Kong has been close to my heart and I’ve been back as much as possible to visit. I am fitting in well with the girls, they’ve welcomed me with open arms from the first day. I enjoy the cultural diversity within the squad a lot.”

ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 – Asia Qualifier 2016
Date: 9-15 October
Venues: Kowloon Cricket Club, Hong Kong Cricket Club, Tin Kwong Recreation Ground
Tickets: free.

Additional reporting and image: HK Cricket

Hong Kong Ready to Shine at ICC World Twenty20

hk cricket 2016

Hong Kong will face off against Zimbabwe in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 on 8 March at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. The Hong Kong Dragons are currently ranked 12th in the game’s shortest format and captain Tanwir Afzal has declared his team’s intention to show the world that the Dragons are not there just to make up the numbers.

The 27-year-old all-rounder spoke to media on the eve of the tournament’s opening match, and said that his young side was both well prepared and excited about facing the Test nation. “We have worked really hard in our preparation for this tournament, and we arrived early in India for some warm-up matches. The team is really excited about playing on the international stage, especially here in India where the people love cricket so much. We have a young side and believe in our ability. We know that Zimbabwe is an experienced side, and they have a few good players. So we know the statistics of the players, and we have a plan; we will work on their weaknesses.”

In the ICC World Twenty20 fist round, Hong Kong have been drawn in Group B with Zimbabwe, Scotland and Afghanistan for a place in the Super 10 stage. One team from the group will advance. If Hong Kong tops the table it will advance to Group 1 where it will join 2010 winner England, South Africa, 2014 champion Sri Lanka and 2012 winner West Indies. Hong Kong’s first Group 1 match would be against the reigning champion, Sri Lanka, at Eden Gardens.

Hong Kong and Zimbabwe have only met once before, in a last-ball thriller won by Hong Kong in a warm up match ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 2014. Hong Kong went on to record one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when it defeated host Bangladesh by two wickets, it’s first-ever win against a Test-playing nation in an official international match.

Hong Kong is appearing in its second consecutive ICC World Twenty20 event after gaining T20I status in 2014, and the skipper said that playing in the tournament is important for the growth of the game in Hong Kong. “If you see the last few years, we have come through the international process. A few years ago, we were in Division 3. We then got T20I and one-day status two years ago. Any success we get helps to grow cricket back home, and impact on our new generation.”

ICC World Twenty20 2016 Schedule

8 March: Hong Kong v Zimbabwe, VCA Stadium, Nagpur, at 5:30pm (15:00 IST)

10 March: Hong Kong v Afghanistan, VCA Stadium, Nagpur, at Midnight (19:30 IST)

12 March: Hong Kong v Scotland, VCA Stadium, Nagpur, at Midnight (19:30 IST)

Hong Kong Squad
Tanwir Afzal (Captain), Mark Chapman (Vice Captain), Haseeb Amjad, Nadeem Ahmed, Adil Mehmood, James Atkinson, Waqas Barkat, Ryan Campbell, Christopher Carter, Babar Hayat, Nizakat Khan, Aizaz Khan, Waqas Khan, Kinchit Shah, Anshuman RathI

UCI Track Cycling World Cup-Hong Kong

laura trott

There really is only one place to be this coming weekend and that’s at the HK Velodrome where double Olympic Gold medalist and multiple World Champion Laura Trott is among a galaxy of world class cycling stars taking part in the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Hong Kong. Joining her is Hong Kong’s London Olympic cycling medalist Sarah Lee Wai Sze and World Champion, Tour de France Green Jersey Winner and sprinter extraordinaire Mark Cavendish and triple Olympic gold medalist and World Champion Jason Kenny.

Hong Kong is the third and final round of the 2015/16 UCI Track Cycling World Cup – the first two legs having taken place in Cali, Colombia and Cambridge, New Zealand in October and December 2015 respectively. Around 300 world class cyclists will participate and as 2016 is also an Olympic year not only will cyclists be wanting to win the World Cup they’ll also be looking towards securing Olympic qualification.

Mark Cavendish The schedule of race is as follows
Friday 15 January
Team pursuit qualifying (men and women)
Team sprint qualifying (men and women)
Points (men and women) Sarah Lee Cycling
Scratch (men and women)

Saturday 16 January
Team pursuit (men’s and women’s finals)
Team sprint (men’s and women’s finals)
Omnium (men and women, events 1-3)
Women’s sprint
Men’s keirin

Sunday 17 January
Men’s sprint
Omnium (men’s and womens, events 4-6)
Women’s keirin

UCI Track Cycling World Cup Hong Kong
Date: 16-17 January, 2016
Venue: Hong Kong Velodrome, Tseung Kwan O
Tickets: $200, $150, $120 from HK Ticketing

Hong Kong v China – Chinese Fans @ Mongkok Stadium, 17 November, 2015

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For reasons known only to the police and Hong Kong Football Association the media were banned from taking photos of the Chinese fan’s section at Hong Kong v China World Cup qualifier. After multiple complaints a brief period of photography was allowed – before the area in-front of the Chinese fans was again at no-go zone from 7pm.
Here are some of the 500 Chinese fans who made the trip.
Click on any photo to access the full gallery.

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Chinese Fan Talks About Hating HongKongers

A Chinese fan at the Hong Kong v China World Cup qualifier talks about hating HongKongers and that China is wonderful.

I was taking photos of the Chinese fans, and suddenly this guy was talking about Chinese fans hating Hong Kong, so I started to record…

Hong Kong v China @ Mongkok Stadium – 17 November, 2015

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Three hours before kick-off and fans queued around the corner to enter Mongkok Stadium for the World Cup qualifier against China. The atmosphere was electric, the noise and passion there for all to see and hear as ‘We are Hong Kong’ echoed across the territory – loud enough to be heard in the Liaison Office and Beijing.

The fans might have been denied the chance to fill Hong Kong Stadium, but HongKongers pride in their team was evident. Every touch greeted with a roar, every Chinese touch a massed boo. For long periods Hong Kong defence resembled the lion rock, stout, imperious, resolute and quietly in command of all it sees… There were scares with crossbar and post hit multiple times. In attack Hong Kong were often careless with the ball, giving it away far too easily, but the crowd roared them forward, keeping tired legs pumped with adrenaline.

Hong Kong scored the stadium erupted, the referee whistled dis-allowing the goal for a ‘foul’ on the keeper. It was a soft decision, as were the multiple over the top Chinese tackles that should have seen yellow but were ignored. There was a feeling the referee was politically managing the game, looking to ensure nothing he did would harm either team.

Hong Kong had chances, both teams hit the woodwork – irrespective of the impact on World Cup qualifying – the draw was cheered as mightily as a win. We are Hong Kong!

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Hong Kong is Not China – 17 November, 2015

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Outside Mongkok Stadium after Hong Kong’s World Cup qualifier against China, a boisterous show of Hongkonger’s pride in Hong Kong – Hong Kong is not China.

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