News of Butt's exploits travels far
Hong Kong master blaster Hussain Butt's exploits have won him worldwide fame with everyone from the BBC to newspapers in Australia, India and Sri Lanka reporting on his record knock which led to the Hong Kong Cricket Club cancelling a match last Sunday.
Butt, who hit an unbeaten 311 last Saturday at the Wong Nei Chung Gap Road club, was cast into the international limelight after foreign news agencies picked up the Sunday Morning Post story highlighting his batting which resulted in HKCC officials postponing a match the following day for safety reasons.
Turning out for Hong Kong University, the Pakistani hit 36 sixes, some of them on to the public road. A couple of sixes allegedly hit passing cars. This saw the club take the unprecedented step of cancelling the Sunday League match between Vagabonds - Butt plays for them on Sundays - and HKCC Optimists the following day.
'The HKCC's action earned Butt worldwide fame. BBC's Radio Two and its website ran the story as did newspapers on the sub-continent. He was also interviewed by a radio station in Perth,' said Vagabonds stalwart Phil Glenwright yesterday.
'I called my son in England to tell him about Butt's deeds and he said he had heard about it while driving on the motorway on the radio. He said he had almost driven off the road when he heard Hong Kong cricket, and that too a Saturday League game, being mentioned on the BBC,' laughed Glenwright.
The Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily News in Sri Lanka were among a few newspapers in the region which carried Butt's story.
'His innings just highlighted the existing situation at the club. Players do hit a lot of sixes out of the ground. His job was to bat and he did a tremendous job. I was so glad to be there to witness a great innings,' said Glenwright, who was HKU's stand-in captain and batting at the other end when Butt became the first local player to hit a triple-ton.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Cricket Association officials were uncertain if this Sunday's match between Vagabonds and HKCC Scorpions would go ahead as planned at the Hong Kong Cricket Club.
'I really don't know if the Hong Kong Cricket Club will cancel this match too,' said HKCA chairman Mike Walsh yesterday. 'Obviously we are concerned about the availability of this ground.'
Apart from the safety issue, it is also understood that Butt's display proved costly to the HKCC. As the home team, they had to provide the balls and Butt's powerful batting had resulted in at least a dozen balls being lost.
'They were bringing on new balls, having taken the shine out of them and he continued to hit them for six,' added Glenwright.
