Hong Kong cricket selectors must wait until tomorrow to learn who they will be allowed to select for next month's Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy tournament in Nepal.
Although the deadline for submitting teams to the tournament organisers passed last Friday, Hong Kong have been kept in the dark because the ACC has yet to rule on the eligibility of permanent identity card holders.
Tournament regulations state that teams must field at least seven players who are either born locally or citizens. The others must have resided for a minimum of five years. Problems for Hong Kong have arisen because the ACC does not apparently recognise Hong Kong permanent identity card holders as being citizens, which may rule out a chunk of Hong Kong's squad.
'The ACC is still undecided about whether to recognise permanent ID card holders, so we haven't been able to give them a squad yet,' said Hong Kong Cricket Association spokesman Mark Burns.
'Initially, we had to give them a list of names last Friday, but they told us they have not taken a decision. They will decide by [tomorrow].
'We're optimistic that they will recognise permanent ID card holders.'