Teams and supporters from all around the world will descend on Po Kong Village Road, Kowloon for the final time from 30 November at the annual Hong Kong invitational festival.
The lease will shortly expire on the picturesque grounds, turned into one of the largest sports fields in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Cricket Association in 2001, and the government will take back the land for redevelopment on December 13.
"It's a last hurrah for Po Kong Village Road," said the festival's tournament director Brad Tarr. "PKVR has been the home of the festival since 2004 so unfortunately we'll have to find a new venue for the tournament next year."
The festival is one of the largest club cricket sixes events in the world. Past Festivals have featured star cricketers such as Heath Streak, Doug Walters, Jack Richards and Terry Alderman. Cricket teams fly in from Australia, UK, USA, Japan and all around the Asia region to compete.
The festival features up to 34 men's and women's cricket teams competing in five divisions.
Hong Kong cricket has been in news for some years for the Hong Kong Sixes tournaments featuring star crickets from all around the world. However, Hong Kong’s own performance at the highest level has been far from flattering. A berth at the 2004 edition of the Asia Cup was good enough, but drubbings at the hands of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, without much of semblance of a fight was far from encouraging.
Much like UAE, Hong Kong needs to look beyond emigrants for development of a cricket culture within its boundaries. But while some business tycoons have lent their liberal support towards the development of cricket in the Arab Emirates, Hong Kong cricket doesn’t seem to have received much more than commercial support. With plenty of English, Indians and Pakistanis around, Hong Kong, with greater and better planning, appears to have the potential to develop itself into a cricketing power, if not worth reckoning, in a hurry, then certainly recognizing.
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