China will make their debut in international cricket at the adult level at next month's ACC Trophy Challenge in Bangkok, with the spotlight very much on them after an appalling display in the Asian Cricket Council's Under-17 Challenge Cup in Bangkok last month.
Chaina have benefited from considerable funding by both the ACC and ICC, but a woeful display in Thailand raised considerable questions regarding the wisdom of the investments.
China will be in Group B, the weaker of the two which includes Maldives and Thailand. Their first match will be against Iran on January 13
Tournament favourites, Oman, are in Group A with Bhutan, Brunei and Myanmar.
Oman have an interesting playing schedule in the next few months. In January they play the likes of Myanmar and Brunei in the ACC Trophy Challenge and in April will contest the World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa against teams such as Ireland and Scotland.
China's group is not really the weakest. Maldives and Thailand are both ok, whereas Oman are the only good team in the other group - Bhutan, Brunei and Myanmar are all terrible.
This will be an interesting tournament to gauge the the third tier of Asian cricket. Oman certainly have shown a great deal of talent, however I haven't seen too much cricket from many of the other teams.
As for China I will not be holding my breath for them to do very well at all in group B especially since this is their debut. But it dosen't mean that the funding should stop going to them to help develop the game in China.
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