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Hong Kong T20 Blitz
Sport

No sponsor, no sweat for Kowloon Cantons at Hong Kong T20 Blitz– they’ve still got two trophies

Owners of the privately backed franchise are confident they can win a third straight title in February

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Kowloon Cantons players and owners celebrate their victory in the 2017 Hong Kong T20 Blitz. Photos: Nora Tam
Nazvi Careem
Kowloon Cantons may not have corporate backing but they have something none of the other Hong Kong T20 Blitz franchises possess – two titles. And the defending champions are confident they can make it three in a row in the third edition of the tournament in February.

Cantons, who are backed by a group of enthusiastic cricket-loving women, have retained coach Craig Wright, captain Babar Hayat and Ehsan Nawaz from last year’s title-winning team but were not able to reassemble all the players who helped beat City Kaitak in last year’s final.

However, they did manage to bring five players back during the draft this month and are looking forward to being competitive once against from February 6-11 at Mission Road.

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Kowloon Cantons’ Babar Hayat (C) in action against City Kaitak.
Kowloon Cantons’ Babar Hayat (C) in action against City Kaitak.

“We believe in our team being our family and so it was important to try and get back our players from the earlier seasons. We are disappointed we couldn’t get everyone back, the Cantons players are always very highly sought after,” said Urvashi Sethi-Sodhi, CEO of Kowloon Cantons.

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Despite being up against corporate-backed franchises, the Cantons have managed to bring in some star names over the past two years – setting the precedent in 2016 when they secured the services of former Australia captain Michael Clarke for the rain-hit inaugural tournament.
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