bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

MOHAMMED Zubair received a most fitting farewell present last night when he was crowned Gunn & Moore Player of the Year at the Hong Kong Cricket Association Awards evening.

 The gifted Pakistan Association fast bowler - who is due to leave Hong Kong to spend a summer playing cricket in England - was presented with his award by chairman of selectors Mike Walsh at the Kowloon Cricket Club dinner.

 Few would quibble with the choice of Zubair for this year's coveted award.

 The talented 21-year-old was instrumental in helping his club to the Sunday League title with a string of economical bowling displays across the season.

 But it is an interesting footnote that his Pakistan Association teammate Munir Hussain actually bagged more wickets this season with 40 to win the Best Sunday bowler award.

 Templars Rahul Sharma won the Best Batsman title after bagging 820 runs at an average of 79.09.

 'It's a great honour for me,' Zubair said.

 'It is the perfect way to end the season.'  Zubair is due to leave for Yorkshire next week where he will the spend the off-season playing in the Bradford League, after being recommended to a club side by former Hong Kong captain Pat Fordham.

 Arguably Zubair's finest hour this season came in the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes, where he had a fairytale debut in the tournament with a hat-trick of wickets in a victory over South Africa.

 That feat might have also earned him the Sixes Player of the Year award if it had not been for the heroics of new captain Stewart Brew in the same tournament.

 Brew was handed the award after inspiring Hong Kong to victory in the Bowl competition, the first time the SAR has ever won silverware in the tournament.

 A former Hong Kong rugby player, Brew revelled in his new captaincy role, leading from the front at the Sixes on his way to piling up a hefty 113 runs during the competition.

 Elsewhere last night, there were few surprises amongst the annual award winners.

 As expected, the highly promising Islanders and Little Sai Wan batsman Manoj Cheruparambil scooped the Price Waterhouse Young Cricketer of the Year award.

 Dragons' Anil Harjani picked up the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award with teammate Sean Brierly collecting the Young Dragon of the Year honours.

 One of the most popular awards went to stalwart umpire Nigel Grandfield, who was given a special award for services to Hong Kong cricket along with Dave Clinton.

 Grandfield's joy was compounded later on in the evening when he was presented with the Umpire of the Year award.



Crowning glory for Zubair