HONG Kong's performance at the fifth ICC Trophy competition once again raises the question of whether there is room for amateurs in a game dominated by professionals. As the territory return home today, after a long and hard three-week stay in Nairobi, the players are still wondering what went wrong after the side had done a wonderful job by qualifying for the final eight, for the first time in the tournament's history. How did Hong Kong, who in the preliminary round had topped the 20-team competition in the run-rate and looked a very competitive side, suddenly go off the boil? One answer would be that Pat Fordham and his team decided that having reached the quarters was a feat in itself (it was), and mentally switched off. Let there be no doubts. The opposition in the quarter-final group games - Holland, Bangladesh and Kenya, the top three seeds, respectively - were man for man, more talented and fitter sides. But Hong Kong were capable of putting on a better fight than losing by eight wickets to Kenya, by 134 runs to Holland and by 57 runs to Bangladesh. The sudden swing in the pendulum was highlighted by the two games against West Africa and Kenya. In the preliminary round against West Africa, Hong Kong amassed their highest-ever total in the ICC Trophy, a record 355. Then, in their next match, the territory plumbed the depths to hit a new low of 86 against Kenya. Was it that Hong Kong were not mentally prepared for Kenya and the quarters? In the quarter-finals, Hong Kong looked a changed side from that which had played in the preliminaries. Gone were the constant clapping and encouragement of the fielders, to each other and the bowler. Gone was the spring in their steps. Looking more and more like a Dad's Army outfit, the territory lost the fire in the latter stages of the competition. There are other reasons put forward for this reversal of fortune. Coach Dermot Reeve, a good motivator, had fallen sick and was lying in bed in the run-up to the vital first quarter-final game against Kenya. A few of the players' wives had turned up before the quarter-finals, which in small measure had broken a close-knit team spirit. The pressure of playing in two tied games (against Denmark and Bermuda) had drained the team mentally. Age (35 being the average age of the side) was taking its toll. These are all possible explanations of what went wrong. The only certainty is that the territory's part-time cricketers suddenly found themselves up against top-quality opposition and could not lift their game up a notch. Not everyone falls into this category. One cricketer, who was competitive until the very sad end, was Stewart Brew. But even the talents of Brew - he finished on top of the Hong Kong batting and bowling averages - were not enough to lift Hong Kong. Among the batsmen, Fordham and Jonathan Orders had good tours. Skipper Fordham led from the front, but unfortunately a couple of his inspiring innings failed to spark the rest. The technically correct Orders showed that he is ideally suited to play a long innings. He is good to keep one end going, but must find a way to score faster if he is to become a really good one-day cricketer. Much hope rested on veteran Steve Atkinson. That was dashed as Atkinson, probably one of the best bats in the Hong Kong side, went through a bad patch. A player who has the ability to score quick runs, Riaz Farcy, also had the ability to get out even faster. He only fired in the preliminary rounds. In the quarter-finals, his highest innings was 14 against Kenya. Opener Mark Eames and middle-order bat John Garden played below their capabilities. In the bowling department, medium-pacers David Cross and Tim Davies bowled steadily. Farcy was always good for a wicket, while Yarman Vachha had a disappointing tour apart from one superb spell against Bermuda where he took three for nine off 10 overs. Hong Kong's fielding was nothing to write home about. Towards the end, most players had lost their throwing arms, and it was a sorry sight to see them throwing in from the boundary. It would, however, have been nice to have had more fielders like perennial 12th man Ravi Sujanani.