The Hong Kong squad for the ACC Trophy in Singapore in July has been cut from 23 to 19. The unlucky four to miss out when the preliminary squad was reduced last week were Adrian Ashman, Martin Lever, Amjad Mehmood and Brett Morley.
The final 14-strong touring party plus four non-travelling reserves will be named early next month for the 10-team tournament, which is supposed to be a qualifying event for the Asia Cup featuring the Test-playing nations in the region.
The question mark still hanging over Saleem Malik's availability for national duty had forced selectors to cut only four players, instead of five, from the preliminary 23-strong squad. The Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) has currently banned Malik from international cricket due to a financial dispute.
Pugnacious opener Malik was banned in January from playing for Hong Kong until he reimburses the HKCA the costs of sending him to the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide for specialised training before last year's ACC Trophy in Canada.
'I have been banned from playing for Hong Kong until I return $18,000 to the Hong Kong Cricket Association. They say this is the cost of my trip to Australia. But if I knew I had to pay for the trip, I would never have gone,' Malik said soon after the ban. The issue has still not been resolved although Malik is in the training squad. Until the situation is cleared - the chairman of the selectors Mike Walsh, who is also HKCA chairman has been away in England due to a bereavement in his family and only returned yesterday - it has been decided to keep an extra player in the squad.
A decision will have to be made soon by the HKCA executive as the deadline for naming the final squad is June 10. The current ICC eligibility requirements for players - teams must field a final XI of nine citizens and two residents - will also play a major role when the tour squad is picked. Of the 19 players, five qualify through residency - Malik, Mohammed Zubair, Ilyas Gul, Anthony Booth and Grayson Tyndale. All of them are unlikely to be picked as only two can play at any given time.
