THE Hong Kong Cricket Association last night gave their full backing to hiring England Test all-rounder Dermot Reeve as the territory's coach for next year's International Cricket Council Trophy in Kenya. Association chairman Peter Slack said the executive committee members were unanimous in their decision, despite the fact it will cost the association over $100,000. Reeve, the Hong Kong-born Warwickshire captain who represented the territory in the 1982 ICC Trophy in England, wants a fee of $30,000 a month for three months, plus flights and accommodation. The total bill for Reeve will be about $125,000, taking the cost of the tour to $560,000. Of this, the association will raise $300,000 and the players and officials will contribute $260,000. The ICC Trophy - which is held every four years for world cricket's B-ranked nations - runs from February 12 to March 6 in Nairobi and Hong Kong will prepare for the event with a quadrangular tournament in November and with matches against a visiting Air India side in January. Reeve will spend a week in Hong Kong after playing for Graham Gooch's unofficial England side in the Hong Kong International Sixes on October 1-2 but will not take up his permanent post until mid-December. Chairman Slack said: ''It was a unanimous decision to take on a professional coach because we are really committed to the quadrangular tournament, the Air India tour and to Dermot Reeve. ''We raised the money when we played in the UK and when we played in Holland in 1990 and we can do it again. ''My message to the meeting was that we must pull together in raising the money because the team we send is the association and the association is the team. ''The players are showing their commitment by taking a month off work and the association must do everything possible to help them.'' The leading three sides of the 20 countries in Kenya will qualify to play in the 1995 World Cup limited overs competition in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka and Slack said Hong Kong would be aiming for one of those qualifying places. ''It is very important we finish in the top half, though, because it is being mooted that the top 10 countries will be able to compete against the Test-playing nations in one-day internationals,'' he added. ''If this happened, we would be able to invite Test teams to play one-day internationals in Hong Kong and we would establish more credibility.'' The association and the players are trying to raise funds for Kenya and Reeve himself will be asked to help in this. He is an accomplished after-dinner speaker and will be available for sponsors and for public relations exercises. As well as coaching the senior players and being involved in the final selection of the 16 players from a pool of 25, Reeve will also hold training camps for younger cricketers.
