Hong Kong’s summer of cricket likely to be long affair for players, with ICC tournaments scheduled from June to August
- The city’s team will play in Challenge League B and ICC T20 Global Qualifiers in Uganda and Zimbabwe
- A third tournament is expected to be played in Jersey, with the Asia Cup also on the horizon
Hong Kong’s cricketers face spending almost three months away from home this summer, with several international tournaments scheduled for between June and August.
The delayed second round of the ICC Challenge League B competition will take place in Uganda from June 14 to 28, with the ICC T20 Global Qualifiers in Zimbabwe from July 8 to 18.
After that, the third of the Challenge League is expected to be played in Jersey between July 28 and August 10, with the Asia Cup qualifiers then reportedly pencilled in for late August.
With little cricket being played in the city because of Covid-19 restrictions, Hong Kong are expected to leave at the start of June for a preparation tour to Namibia, where they will play warm-up matches against Uganda and the host’s A side.
Hong Kong head coach Trent Johnston said his side were planning to be away for two months “unless something changed, but who knows what is going to happen”.
And with the Asian Games scheduled for September, the team could be away for a significant period of time, but after not touring for more than two years because of the coronavirus, Johnston hoped his side would be “pretty keen to get away”.
The Australian said restrictions in the city meant his team had been reduced to doing “two Zoom sessions a week in very small apartments, three running sessions, and that’s it”.
