Hong Kong T20 Blitz draft: five Chinese cricketers taken up by franchises
Li Kai-ming, Jason Lui among players chosen with Haseeb Amjad taken first by Gladiators
A record five Hong Kong Chinese players were picked during the Hong Kong T20 Blitz draft on Saturday as the franchises completed their roster for local players.
Spinner Li Kai-ming, the only Chinese player picked in the 2016 inaugural event, will be joined by Jason Lui, Ady Lee, Siegfried Wai and Damien Yee for the March tournament at Tin Kwong Road.
The five franchises are now preparing to reveal their overseas players over the next few weeks and organisers are expecting a number of big names to be in Hong Kong.
“In addition to the opportunity for Jason Lui on the recent high performance tour of Australia, this further demonstrates our commitment to the development of Chinese cricket,” said Cricket Hong Kong’s Director of Cricket Charlie Burke.
“Ming Li was the only player from the [all-Chinese] Dragons selected last year, so to have an additional four players part of the tournament is a great chance for these players to be exposed to a professional cricket environment.”
Lui was picked by the Galaxy Gladiators Lantau, Ady Lee went to Hong Kong Island United, Wai was taken by City Kaitak, Li returned to Kowloon Cantons while Yee will play for Hung Hom JD Jaguars.
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A total 40 players were divided across the five teams at Cricket Hong Kong headquarters in Causeway Bay with former Hong Kong player Haseeb Amjad taken first pick by Gladiators.
He was followed by Daniel Pascoe to Hong Kong Island United, while Ryan Buckley went third to City Kaitak. Waqas Khan (Kowloon Cantons) and Chris Carter (Hung Hom JD Jaguars) completed the first round of selections.
Before the draft, each team had already secured three retained players each.
“The professionalism of the teams was clear to see and the amount of research that went into the draft really impressed me,” said Burke.
Hung Hom JD Jaguars and Galaxy Gladiators Lantau to kick off 2017 Hong Kong T20 Blitz; Gladiators earn No 1 pick in draft
“I thought it was great to see the amount of young players that were selected. We had almost every domestic Premier League player make themselves available for all days not just the weekend, which shows their commitment given they are not professionals.”
“The squads are a lot stronger this season compared to last and if I had to give an early favourite based on the selections today, I’d have to lean towards the new team City Kaitak.”
Hong Kong T20 Blitz draft (R denotes retained player)
Galaxy Gladiators
R Anshuman Rath
R Mohammad Awais
R Mo Khan
1 Haseeb Amjad opening bowler first pick
2 Daniyal Bukhari
3 Courtney Kruger
4 Karandeep Singh
5 Arshan Haroon Mohammad
6 Ishaq Ibraheem Muhammad
7 Jason Lui
8 Sourav Kumar
Hong Kong Island United
R Tavwir Afzal
R Ehsan Khan
R Jamie Atkinson
1 Dan Pascoe
2 Kyle Christie
3 Muhammad Moner Ahmed
4 Muhammad Balal
5 Devang Bulsara
6 Rory Caines
7 Ady Lee
8 Anas Khan
City Kaitak
R Aizaz Khan
R Gareth Harte
R Nadeem Ahmed
1 Ryan Buckley
2 Waqas Barkat
3 Raag Kapur
4 Akbar Khan
5 Niaz Ali
6 Ankur Vashista
7 Sheryar Saed
8 Siegfried Wai
Kowloon Cantons
R Babar Hayat
R Tanveer Ahmed
R Shahid Wasif
1 Waqas Khan
2 Ahsan Ali Abassi
3 Ehsan Nawaz
4 Mudassar Hussain
5 Giacomo Lamplough
6 Sunny Bhimsaria
7 Li Kai-ming
8 Angus Robson
Hung Hom JD Jaguars
R Kinchit Shah
R Ninad Shah
R Nizakat Khan
1 Chris Carter
2 Imran Arif
3 Simandeep
4 Jangzeb
5 Ashley Caddy
6 Skhawat Ali
7 Damien Yee
8 Sharma Vishal
