While International Cricket for Full members and Associates alike are at a standstill dure to the COVID-19 outbreak, some of the Associate cricket boards are using the time to organize their domestic season. Cricket Hong Kong (CHK) are all set to start their OD Premier League tournament from Mar 15th, 2020 – Apr 19th, 2020, with an eye on the 2nd round of CWC Challenge League Group B event in Uganda. While the national squad members will look forward to getting back to the 50-overs format of the game after recent matches/tournaments being held in the T20 format, it will also be an oppotunity for other domestic players to put in impressive performances for head coach Trent Johnston to have a look into the bench strength and also sort out few new faces to stake claim in the national squad.
Hong Kong Cricket Club, Disaqua Little Sai Wan CC, Kowloon Cricket Club, United Services Recreation Club and Pakistan Association CC will be competing in a single round-robin format tournament, at the conclusion of which, the team at the top of the points table will be declared as the winners. Kowloon Cricket Club are the defending champions from the previous edition held in 2017, with Disaqua Little Sai Wan CC finishing as the runners-up.
Hong Kong Cricket Club will be banking on the experience of Kinchit Shah with both bat and ball, and will look for support from the likes of Tanveer Ahmed, Adil Mehmood, Ninad Shah, Ryan Buckley and Luke Jones to challenge the other teams in the tournament. Ian Massey, Brett Long and Elliot Scrivener were the standout performers in the Saturday Championship in 2020 for HKCC teams in the tournament. Previous edition winners, Kowloon Cricket Club, will have a wealth of Hong Kong national squad members at their disposal that includes the national captain Aizaz Khan, alongside Jamie Atkinson, Nizakat Khan, Waqas Barkat, Aarush Bhagwat and also former players in Daniel Pascoe and Chris Carter. Former Namibia International Jason Davidson and Ashley Caddy will be leading Kowloon’s bowling line-up in the tournament.
Disaqua Little Sai Wan CC are more reliant on their bowling department, with a spin-heavy attack that includes Ehsan Khan, Aftab Hussain and Ghazanfer Mohammed. The Batting department is a bit thin and will look for most of the runs from the likes of Shahid Wasif, Waqas Khan and all-rounders’s Haroon Arshad and Mehran Zeb. Mohsin Khan, who took a maiden 5-for against Nepal in the recently concluded ACC Eastern Region T20, will look to dominate proceedings in the fast-bowling department for the club. Dhananjay Chetan Rao, Nauman Ali and Asad Nawaz Khan are some of the domestic players who impressed in the Saturday Championship matches in 2020 for DLSW Thunder team.
Pakistan Association CC, who won the Premier League T20 tournament in Sep 2019, will be heavy favourites for the title with big names in Tanwir Afzal, Babar Hayat, Zeeshan Ali, Yasim Murtaza, Manjinder Singh, alongside Hamed Khan, Daniyal Bukhari, Ehsan Nawaz, Nusrullah Rana and Hassan Khan Mohammad to lead the batting and bowling departments for the team. Veteran spinners Anas Khan and Mohammad Ishtiaq will also be key players during the course of the tournament and the club looks a very settled unit with all key areas covered to mount their challenge for the title.
United Services Recreation Club consist’s of young players in their squad and there will be attention to the likes of Skhawat Ali, Ehsan Muhammad, Muhayam Zaman, Daniyal Butt and Ahsan Abbasi, along with all-rounders Akbar Khan, Huzafah Mohammad and Zakir Hayat and seasoned captain Imran Arif will have plenty on his hand to create results after a disappointing outing in the T20 format in 2019.
Select matches in the tournament will be live streamed on Cricket Hong Kong’s Facebook and YouTube channel.
CHK Premier League OD Tournament Schedule
15th March (HKCC): Hong Kong Cricket Club vs Disaqua Little Sai Wan CC
15th March (KCC): Kowloon Cricket Club vs United Services Recreation Club
22nd March (HKCC): Hong Kong Cricket Club vs Pakistan Association CC
22nd March (KCC): Disaqua Little Sai Wan CC vs Kowloon Cricket Club
29th March (Mission Road): Pakistan Association CC vs Disaqua Little Sai Wan CC
29th March (KCC): Kowloon Cricket Club vs Hong Kong Cricket Club
05th April (Mission Road): Pakistan Association CC vs United Services Recreation Club
12th April (Mission Road): United Services Recreation Club vs Disaqua Little Sai Wan CC
19th April (HKCC): Hong Kong Cricket Club vs United Services Recreation Club
19th April (KCC): Kowloon Cricket Club vs Pakistan Association CC
