Life begins again for 40-year-old Dermot Reeve today. Pure, hands-on cricketing life, that is. Two decades after last playing for Hong Kong, Reeve will don the SAR colours as he strides out to take part in the Cathay Pacific/Standard Chartered Hong Kong Sixes at the Kowloon Cricket Club. It could be the start of an international comeback.
'I will feel nervous when I walk out tomorrow,' admitted Reeve yesterday. 'But that will be a good thing. Sixes is all about getting the adrenalin pumping. When batting you have to go out there ready to make contact with the ball right away and when bowling you need to retain composure and not give away extras.'
Ex-England international Reeve, will be part of the seven-strong Hong Kong squad who have set their sights on entering the Cup competition for the first time in the history of this event. The band of weekend cricketers captained by Rahul Sharma won the Plate competition last year.
'Our goal this year is to make it through to the Cup competition,' said Sharma. Apart from Sharma, only two others survive from last year's squad - Najeeb Amar and Afazaal Haider. The rest are new faces, including Tabarak Dar, Ryan Eagleson, Mark Eames and Reeve.
And will the presence of the Hong Kong-born Reeve spur them on? 'I won't comment on that. We will have to wait and see. It won't be easy. We will be up against teams with bags of experience. We will be up against professionals,' said Reeve, who last played for Hong Kong as a teenager at the 1982 ICC Trophy in England.
Hong Kong are probably in the tougher group comprising defending champions Pakistan, India and New Zealand. The other pool is made up of England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Kenya. After today's round-robin competition, the top two from each pool will enter the Cup semi-finals tomorrow.