Cricket Hong Kong selectors have announced the 14-member squad for the upcoming Asian Cricket Council’s Asia Cup Qualifiers, to be held in Malaysia from 27th Aug – 8th Sep 2018.
Babar Hayat will continue to Captain and lead the team in the qualifiers. Hong Kong’s last 50-overs tournament was at the ICC World Cup qualifiers held in Zimbabwe in Mar 2018, following the conclusion of which they had lost their ODI status for the next 4 years after they failed to finish among the top 3 Associate countries among the 5 in the qualifiers (excluding Netherlands).
Leg spinner Jhatha Subramanyan and medium pace all-rounder Haroon Arshad are the new names in the Hong Kong squad, as they have performed well for Hong Kong “A” fixtures and have been part of the development program for Cricket Hong Kong for sometime now.
Hong Kong will be competing against Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Malaysia in a single round-robin format (50-overs) before the top 2 sides meet in the final of the qualifiers and the eventual winner goes onto join India and Pakistan in Group A of 2018 ACC Asia Cup in UAE in Sep 2018.
Chris Carter, Haroon Arshad & Jhatha Subramanyan will be travelling to Malaysia earlier as part of the “A” squad development tour and their time spent during the tour will be crucial when the qualifiers start.
Hong Kong squad for 2018 ACC Asia Cup Qualifiers:
Babar Hayat (Captain), Anshuman Rath, Tanwir Afzal, Nadeem Ahmed, Haroon Arshad, Chris Carter, Aizaz Khan, Ehsan Khan, Nizakat Khan, Waqas Khan, Cameron McAuslan, Scott McKechnie, Ehsan Nawaz, Kinchit Shah & Jhatha Subramanyan
Reserve Players :Â Aftab Ahmed, Tanveer Ahmed, Raag Kapur, Ghazanfar Mohammad & Shahid Wasif