HONGKONG are well on their way to attracting enough support to fend off a proposed rule change which would wreck their preparations for the next International Cricket Council Trophy.
Kenya, who will stage the 1994 ICC Trophy for 20 of the world's B-ranked cricket-playing nations next February and March, want to increase the residency rule from four years to seven years.
But the Hongkong Cricket Association are leading the opposition to the proposal, which will be put to the vote at the July meeting of the ICC's 19 associate members at Lord's, London.
Hongkong began their lobbying in Bangkok over the weekend, when the territory beat Southeast Asian rivals Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to retain the Tuanku Ja'Afar Cup.
And association chairman Peter Slack will report to tonight's monthly meeting of the executive committee that Singapore and Malaysia will both support Hongkong in their fight to defeat the proposal.
''There was a strong feeling of the Southeast Asia teams sticking together as a combined force,'' said Slack.
''We had some very worthwhile discussions with officials from both Singapore and Malaysia and they will recommend that their respective associations vote against the proposal because they recognise what our problems would be.'' The present rule states that a player must have lived in the country he wishes to represent for at least eight months in each of the previous four years leading up to the tournament.