OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE

Hong Kong's shining moment - lodestar or flash in the pan?

by Bertus de Jong • Published on

After their heroics in the Asia Cup, Nizakat & Anshuman only have a bilateral tour to PNG to look forward to. © Getty

There was a time, back when such things were poorly understood, when the appearance of a light in the sky where there wasn't one before would create a fair stir amongst those accustomed to following the predictable motions of familiar astral bodies. Books might be penned, ad-hoc explanations proffered, and a good deal of portentous nonsense would ensue.

These days, though the science of Novas is far from a finished field, and their prediction still largely educated guesswork, astronomers have a fair idea of what lies behind them and the conditions under which they can occur. So it was, if you will pardon a rather laboured analogy, with Hong Kong's recent flash in the cricketing firmament. Heading to the UAE with two of the better-performing spinners in associates cricket, a workmanlike but canny pace attack, and a top three of proven quality, one might have guessed Hong Kong arrived at the Asia Cup pushing their metaphorical Chandrasekhar limit.

And for all its brightness, their shining moment would likewise prove transient. Kinchit Shah's efforts at the death kept India in check, holding them to a chasable 285 before Nizakat Khan and skipper Anshuman Rath gave them an almighty scare with a record 174-run opening stand, but Hong Kong would fizzle out when that stand was broken, as they habitually do even against less stellar opposition. The tail battled on, but India's experience reasserted itself. Hong Kong would fall 26 runs short and fade out of the tournament.

Anything but a first round exit was always a long shot for Hong Kong especially given the disadvantage of a group and indeed tournament structure designed solely to guarantee at least one, and perhaps produce as many as three clashes between Pakistan and India. The upshot was that Hong Kong, currently ranked 18th in one-day cricket, were drawn in a group with the 5th and 2nd ranked sides, while the 7th, 8th and 10th were on the other side of the draw. Even had they somehow made it through this group of death, however, by the end of the week they would still find themselves facing the same lustreless schedule. A bilateral tour to Papua New Guinea early next month is the only firm date in Hong Kong's international calendar, thereafter the as-yet-unscheduled WT20 Qualifier sometime in 2019 and presumably the as-yet-unconfirmed World Cricket League Division 2 is all they have to look forward to in terms of international cricket.

The point is often made that such occasional matches against much stronger teams, though a wonderful motivator, are of limited value in terms of player development compared to regular competitive cricket, and it is telling that both Rath and Nizakat, as well as Babar Hayat - Hong Kong's second-highest run-scorer in the qualifier, have had the benefit of more such cricket than most of their peers of late. The trio have been among the most active cricketers in nascent associate T20 franchises, not only Hong Kong's own T20 Blitz, but also Canada's GT20 and, in the case of Hayat and Rath, Nepal's EPL and DPL.

For the three, and perhaps now also for Kinchit Shah, there's every chance that success will breed success, joining the handful of associate players that have become semi-regular picks in the second tier of franchise cricket, perhaps even follow the path beaten most prominently by Rashid Khan and more recently Nepal's Sandeep Lamichanne and the USA's Ali Khan in breaking into full member leagues.

It is perhaps trite to attribute the performance of Hong Kong through their Asia Cup campaign entirely to the experiences of their players in franchise cricket, but it is undeniable that the opportunity to play against, and train with, some of the best players in the world on a semi-regular basis has a significant impact both on associate cricketers' games and their confidence against their somewhat demystified full member peers, not to mention taking some financial pressure off at a time when even top-ranked associate boards are again struggling to afford full-time contracts for their players.

Conversely, the limited number of spots on offer on the franchise carousel inevitably means that barring a lucky few, most associate players will miss out. Khan and Lamichanne were the only two associates to bag deals in both the Afghanistan Premier League and UAE T10 league drafts that were held this month, (Khan benefiting when Kabul reconsidered their selection of the now-Canadian-eligible Asghar Hotak - who disappeared from an Afghanistan under-19 tour to the country in 2009). The APL reserving a place in each team for associate players is a commendable move, and the upcoming UAE T20X league goes still further, reserving three spots per side for associates on top of the three for local UAE players. For 15 associate players it will be a chance to rub shoulders with established stars and an opportunity to attract attention from bigger leagues.

But even as the proliferation of T20 leagues is offering greater opportunities to at least some associate players and perhaps beginning to broaden the horizons of talent scouts, reservations among full member boards are growing. The ICC's Board is reportedly mulling restricting the number of leagues any one player can participate in, and even denying sanction to new associate member leagues. More recently, the PCB this week announced it would review its players' participation in the T10 league, citing concerns over lack of financial transparency. The PCB already bars all but retired Pakistani players from participating in the APL, which has already apparently been targetted by spot-fixers, with Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad reporting an approach.

It is unclear whether the cricketing ecosystem can support unregulated proliferation of such leagues in the long term, not whether the ICC's full members might at some point seek to establish a measure of control. But either way, as a driver of development or growth for the game, franchise cricket is limited by the fact that it benefits only a handful of players.

And while the USA management will doubtless be happy for Khan to hone his skills at the APL next month ahead of World Cricket League Division 3 in November, arguably a greater boon to their preparations is the invitation of Cricket West Indies to both the US and Canada to participate in the West Indies Regional Super50 competition at the same time.

Were it not for the Super50, the ongoing WT20 Subregional Qualifier at Raleigh, North Carolina would have been the only competitive cricket on the agenda for the Americans in the lead up to Division 3. And indeed the term competitive is used loosely, with Belize and Panama mustering precious little resistance to the USA and Canada's expected progression to the Regional Final, though first match between the States and Canada itself proved a thriller. Canada edged out their hosts in a Super Over after Rizwan Cheema tied the scores with a six off the final ball, all in front of a crowd of at least 1,500.

By coincidence, Kenya also played out a tie against Namibia just two weeks before at East London, with Namibia running out super-over victors in their clash at the Africa T20 Cup, the South African inter-regional T20 competition to which they had been invited by CSA, together with Nigeria and Uganda.

None of the four made it through on the semi finals, though in the case of Namibia and Uganda only just, missing out on net run rate. So as it turned out their run in the competition amounted to just a handful of games each.

Kenya and Uganda, who will join the States in Oman in November for Division 3, stayed on in South Africa for a few further practice games, but doubtless look enviously at Namibia's continued participation in the South African regional three-day and 50-over competitions, and the States' invite to the CWI Super50.

Whilst the value of individual players' stints in T20 franchise cricket was perhaps reflected in Hong Kong's Asia Cup campaign, regular competition for associate sides - even at the domestic level - of the sort enjoyed by the United States and Namibia, and for a time by Scotland and the Netherlands in the English one-day competition, is arguably the more valuable to development, as many players themselves attest.

The future structure of ICC's 50 over and First Class associate competitions remains uncertain (though there is hope this may be addressed in Madrid next month) but whatever may be decided, the example of the West Indian and South African boards is one other full members would do well, and do good, in following.

© Cricbuzz

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