HONGKONG'S selectors will meet on Tuesday to pick a captain and a vice-captain for next year's International Cricket Council (ICC) Trophy in Kenya.
Following the territory's successful defence of the Tuanku Ja'Afar Cup in Thailand last weekend, Hongkong Cricket Association chairman Peter Slack said the next step in the build-up to Kenya would be to appoint the tour captain.
Rod Eddington, the chairman of selectors, organised the selectors' meeting yesterday and the panel will recommend a captain and a vice-captain for approval by the association's executive committee.
The term of office of the current captain, Pat Fordham, runs until the end of the season and he must be regarded as the favourite to retain the job for Kenya.
Fordham was not eligible for the 1990 ICC Trophy in Holland because he had not lived in Hongkong for the required four years.
Neither was the player who must also be in the selectors' minds - Fordham's Templars teammate Steve Atkinson, who has just led the Kowloon Cricket Club team to their first Sunday League title in 18 years.
Schoolteacher Atkinson, 40, had lived in Hongkong for only a year before the 1990 ICC Trophy but he did represent Holland in the 1986 competition, when he averaged 72.57 in 10 matches. With the help of an Atkinson century, Holland beat Hongkong on their way to the final, where they lost to Zimbabwe at Lord's.
