Left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed has been told to 'clean up his act' after being dropped from the Hong Kong national squad.
A poor disciplinary record has cost Nadeem a place in a 20-strong squad chosen yesterday for the next season. Players from this squad will be in the running for a berth in the 14-man team for the ACC Twenty20 championships in Nepal in December, the first step in the qualifying process for the World Twenty20.
'Nadeem has been dropped because of a poor attitude,' Hong Kong coach Charlie Burke said. 'Unfortunately, we have had a few disciplinary issues with him. We have given him plenty of opportunities but have now decided he must clean up his act.'
Nadeem, 24, the elder brother of all-rounder Irfan Ahmed, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Nadeem fell foul of Hong Kong team officials during the ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Dubai in April. This had led to him being dropped for the opening game against Uganda. He had also had disciplinary issues playing for Little Sai Wan in the local league last season.
'While you couldn't fault his on-field commitment, the same couldn't be said off the field,' Burke said. 'He missed a few curfews in Dubai which led to him being dropped for one match. He has to have a serious think about what he wants to do and there has to be a huge turnaround in his attitude if he wants to continue playing for Hong Kong.'
Nadeem, who first represented Hong Kong when he was 16 - he played his first one-day international at the 2004 Asia Cup in Colombo - has now been placed in the Hong Kong 'A' team.