Confusion surrounds the sudden resignation of Clive Howard, the chairman of the Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA).

Howard quit with immediate effect in the middle of the week, but the brief statement from the board cited “family and work commitments”. However, a report in the South China Morning Press stated that he owed the HKCA around HK$210,000 (US$27,000)

"During his time as chairman, cricket developed significantly, with the introduction of the "Challenge League" for players not able to find places in teams competing in the regular Saturday and Sunday League competitions run by the HKCA and the setting up of a women's league competition,” Terry Smith, the board president, said. "He also played a significant part in developing the International Cricket Sixes into an event of true international stature.

"Given the scale of the activities now being undertaken by the Association, we are now considering the appointment of a CEO to support the chairman and executive committee and implement all aspects of association policy.”

Shane Warne and Anil Kumble will take part in a lucrative new six-a-side tournament, the iSixes World Series, which will take place in Singapore, Shanghai and Dubai. All nine Test playing nations will be involved, plus one wild-card team, with US$1m for the winners.

Singapore will host the first leg from July 4-6 at Singapore Cricket Club's Padang ground with further stops expected in Shanghai, Dubai, and one other yet-to-be announced country. Among other players confirmed for the All Stars are former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak, New Zealander Craig McMillan, and Sri Lanka's Romesh Kaluwitharan.

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Bangladesh Women recorded a clean 4-0 sweep of Hong Kong who crashed to another humiliating defeat in Mirpur. Bangladesh have completely outplayed Hong Kong all series and their 211 for 9 was always going to be more than sufficient, even if they did lose their last five wickets for 36. Salma Khatun top-scored with 63. Hong Kong got off to a reasonably competent start, with their captain – the New Zealand-born Neisha Pratt – again standing out with 61. That was Hong Kong’s only peak, however: the next highest scores were 14 and 6 while the rest – including Nos. 5-11 - all registered ducks. The match was wrapped up in the 41st over with Jahanara Alam, bowling her first over, removing the last three to claim a hat-trick and dismiss Hong Kong for 96.

Match scorecard

Bangladesh’s women romped to another thumping win over Hong Kong in the third match of four in Chittagong. Betty Chan took 5 for 28 to restrict Bangladesh to a relatively modest 158, but it proved to be well out of reach of Hong Kong who were bowled out for just 87. Connie Wong (36) and Neisha Pratt (24) continued their good form, contributing 69 percent of the team’s total. Bangladesh won by 71 runs and lead the series 3-0.

	Salma Khatun and Panna Ghosh take a run during their 156-run stand © tigercricket.com

Bangladesh’s top order did little but a fourth-wicket stand of 156 between Panna Ghosh and Salma Khutan guided them to 249 for 5, always enough against a side who had been bowled out for 38 three days earlier.

Hong Kong started well, Connie Wong and Keenu Gill putting on 89 for the first wicket but once Gill had gone for 62 the innings disintegrated and the last eight wickets added only 41.

Click here for the full scorecard

Hong Kong’s women lost the opening game in their four-match series against Bangladesh by eight wickets after they were skittled for 38. Neisha Pratt, who has experience in her native New Zealand, made 16 but otherwise it was a pretty poor display. Salma Khatun, Bangladesh’s captain, grabbed a hat-trick on her way to 4 for 2 off six overs and then her side eased to victory inside 14 overs.

The Hong Kong Sixes for 2008 will be held on November 8 and 9 at Kowloon Cricket Club, it was announced today. For further information, check www.hksixes.com.

Associate Member Bermuda picked up two prizes in the ICC Development Program Annual awards, making them the winners in this year’s competition. They were awarded the Best Overall Cricket Development Program and the Photo of the year titled “It’s a Catch”.

Continue reading "Bermuda's development recognised by the ICC"

The Hong Kong women's team will tour Bangladesh from March 20 to 29 to play four one-day matches against Bangladesh. The four matches will be played on March 23, 25, 27 and 29.

The number of people actively participating in cricket outside the Test-playing countries increased 17% in 2007, according to the ICC.

The research, carried out by the ICC's development program, was collated from 33 Associate and 58 Affiliate members. It showed that there were 338,051 male and female players in those countries in 2007, an increase of 49,158 on the previous year. Since 2002, when there were 144,047 participants, there has been a 135% rise.

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As revealed by Cricinfo last month, the 2011 World Cup will be shortened and the main victims of the change will be the Associate countries who will have their numbers cut from six to four.

"It is a move we both feared and expected and it's not great news for the Associates," Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of the Irish Cricket Union, told Cricinfo. "Neither is it a great vote of confidence in the ICC's own High Performance Programme.

Click here to tell us what you think of this? Is it the start of the gradual elimination of smaller countries from the World Cup or a necessary and welcome move?

	Singapore's captain Rezza Gaznavi receives the ACC Under-15 Elite Cup © ACC

The Asian Cricket Council had taken drastic action on Saturday and kicked out hosts and defending champions Nepal as well as Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Thailand after its medical board reported that all the squads from those countries contained players over the stipulated age limit. Sunday's semi-finals - Nepal v Singapore and Afghanistan v Hong Kong - were scrapped.

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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.

Continue reading "Last hurrah for Po Kong Village Road"

Cricket teams and supporters from all parts of the world as well as Hong Kong will descend on the cricket grounds at Po Kong Village Road, Kowloon for the final time for the annual Ichor International Hong Kong Invitational Cricket Festival 2007. The three-day event starts on November 30.

The lease will shortly expire on the picturesque cricket 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 festival 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 features up to 34 men's and women's cricket teams competing in five divisions using the popular cricket sixes format.

For further information see the tournament website www.hkcricketfestival.com or contact Brad Tarr on mobile 9422 5907 or brad@cricketsixes.com

Will Luke

Aftab Habib, the former England batsman, has been appointed as Hong Kong’s coach on a three-year contract.

Habib, 35, was selected from a field of 25 candidates according to the website of the Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA).

"We did a very extensive search and narrowed it down to a shortlist of four,” Clive Howard, the HKCA chairman said. “Aftab was our final choice. “We have offered him a three-year contract. One of the main conditions for the job was that the new coach be based in Hong Kong."

Habib's first assignment is in Kuwait for the inaugural ACC Twenty20 tournament which got underway yesterday.

The 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup gets underway on October 27, a ten-team tournament held in Kuwait.

Hong Kong Cricket's website, which Cricinfo hosts, will have more once the tournament gets underway.

Hong Kong are seeking a new national coach. This is a three-year appointment, subject to satisfactory performance.

Sameer Dighe is the current temporary coach, who took over from Robin Singh before the World Cricket League Division Three tournament in Darwin. His appointment was just for that competition and the preparatory tour to Chennai.

The HKCA has also tossed in the requirement that the coach must be Hong Kong based which would rule out the previous arrangement offered to Robin Singh, and may well count out Dighe this time.

More details on the HKCA website.

If you’re a women’s team looking for a fixture or two abroad, it’s unlikely that you have considered touring Hong Kong. Yet it would be worth thinking about, particularly as the Hong Kong Cricket Association would love to host any teams who would be keen.

Continue reading "Women's teams wanted for Hong Kong"

The Hong Kong women's team scored an emphatic ten-wicket victory over China in an historic match played at the Shenzhen University Stadium. While records of matches between teams from Hong Kong and Chinese clubs date back to the 19th century, this match was the first full international played between teams from Hong Kong and China.

Click here for the full report

Eight of cricket’s emerging nations will be hoping to take one step towards qualification for the 2011 World Cup when the World Cricket League Division 3 gets underway this Sunday (May 27) in Darwin.

The top two teams from this event will join UAE, Namibia, Denmark and Oman
in Windhoek, Namibia at the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 November. The top four teams from the event in Namibia will automatically qualify for the ICC World Cup Qualifier in the UAE in 2009, while the two remaining teams will have a second chance to qualify for the UAE tournament at the World Cricket League Division 3 in early 2009.

Click here for the full team-by-team preview.

Seven bowlers each from Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal and the UAE will be sent to the MRF Pace Foundation, run by Dennis Lillee, ahead of the 2007 and 2008 World Cricket League.

"It is the ACC's intention that these teams do well in the World Cricket League and the MRF camp in Chennai is to prepare the five qualifiers for World Cup qualification. An invitation was extended to the Malaysian Under-19 squad to train at MRF as they have pre-qualified for the 2008 U-19 World Cup next February and can benefit from the opportunity to train from this year," says ACC Development Manager Sultan Rana.

It won't get many column inches in the mainstream cricket press, but the World Cricket League, which started in Nairobi yesterday and continues into next week, features the best of the rest, the six sides just under the ten Test-playing countries. For the two finalists, the rewards are bountiful - a place among the big boys in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa this September, along with $250,000. For countries used to surviving on annual handouts from the ICC of less than $200,000, that's big money.

Continue reading "A long way from home"

An MCC touring team, managed by J.A.F. Vallance – who will be accompanying Tony Lewis, the MCC president, on his last official engagement – and captained by Min Patel (Kent and England), will leave Lord’s on September 25 for a 16-day tour of China and Hong Kong. The strong side – which also includes Dougie Brown (Warwickshire, Scotland and England), Simon Smith (Scotland) and Craig Wright (Scotland) – will play six matches on the tour, including a game against Hong Kong CC, one of MCC’s reciprocal clubs. This will be the first tour which the club has undertaken to China, and it is intended that as many coaching sessions as possible will be held in order to foster the game in the region.

On September 26, a separate touring team will visit Botswana and Zambia for a 14-day visit to play five matches. The side will be managed by R.W. Ibbotson and captained by Stuart Barnes (Gloucestershire).

Hong Kong have announced a squad of 14 for the women's tour of Pakistan next month. Read the full story at Cricinfo

UAE 175 for 5 (Khan 61*) beat Hong Kong 174 for 8 (Ali 3-35) by 5 wickets

The United Arab Emirates beat Hong Kong by five wickets today, at the Kinrara Oval, to take the 2006 ACC Trophy.

Choosing to bat, Hong Kong could only muster 174 for 8 in their 50 overs with the captain and wicketkeeper, Tim Smart, top-scoring in his 55. Arshad Ali bowled very tidily, picking up 3 for 37 and the Man-of-the-Match award. UAE then raced to victory in 35 overs, Khan taking them home with an unbeaten 61.