IF one were to go on results in the last couple of years, it would seem the home team is heavily favoured to win the annual season-ender between the Hong Kong Cricket Club and the Kowloon Cricket Club. Last year, when the match was played at KCC for the Fincher Shield - it is for the Hancock Shield today as it is played at HKCC - KCC won. In 1992, HKCC won when the game was played at Wong Nei Chung Gap. So does home ground advantage play a role? KCC will hope not, and will be determined to reverse the trend today. On paper, they look pretty impressive, boasting seven players who represented Hong Kong in Kenya at the ICC Trophy recently. They will however miss leg-spinner Bharat Gohel who has withdrawn from the side due to personal reasons. Andrew Foley has also pulled out of the KCC team. Replacing them are David Hunt and Glyn Davies respectively. But the HKCC side too have a couple of last-minute changes. A broken finger keeps out Bob Stiller, and his replacement is John Dally. Gopal Lalchandani also comes in for the unavailable Tim Davies. KCC skipper Steve Atkinson is one player who might just have gone ''rusty''. Atkinson, whose side has not figured in the Knockout Cup final stages, admits that is his only worry. ''I have not played since coming back and I might be a little bit rusty. But I'm looking forward to the match''. KCC - Mark Eames, Pat Fordham, Riaz Farcy, Steve Atkinson (capt.), Charlie Gonnesena, Nigel Stearns, Yarman Vachha, Glyn Davies, Paul Cresswell, David Hunt, Ravi Sujanani. HKCC - Stewart Brew (capt.), Tim Smart, Steve Foster, Mike Peck, Seamus O'Brien, John Dally, Mike Swift, Ben Hall, Adrian Ashman, Matthew Johnson, Gopal Lalchandani.
