11 September 2019
Cricket Hong Kong has announced the 15 players to represent Hong Kong at the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Qualifiers to be held in Dubai from the 18th October - 2nd November, 2019. The same squad will travel to Oman prior to the Qualifier for a 5-nation T20I Series. Oman will host Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands and Nepal from the 5th-10th October.
The tournament will also be the first tournament for the squad under the guidance of recently appointed Head Coach, Trent Johnston. He had this to say “From my short time in Hong Kong I have been very impressed by both the skill and commitment from the players. The squad has a nice balance of youth and experience, we are bringing two players into the squad for their first major tournament who will be well supported by a number of experienced players.”
There are several new faces in the squad with both Aarush Bhagwat and Nasrulla Rana earning places in the full squad for the first time following their involvement in Hong Kong age group squads and performances domestically. The squad also welcomes back Nizakat Khan and Waqas Khan into the squad.
Anshuman Rath is a notable omission after making himself unavailable for Hong Kong so he can pursue other opportunities abroad. CHK High Performance Manager had this to say “Cricket Hong Kong would like to thank Anshuman for his outstanding contribution over his many years representing Hong Kong and wish him well for his future endeavours.”
Mark Farmer went on to say “The squad has a nice balance of skill sets which will be important when adapting to the conditions in the UAE. Despite the loss of Anshuman Rath this squad has a significant amount of experience particularly in T20 cricket, a format that is well suited to us.”
The squad will depart for Oman on the 3rd of October to to play in a 5-nation T20I Series before travelling to UAE for the WCQ tournament.
Full Squad:
Aarush Bhagwat Kowloon Cricket Club
Ahsan Abassi United Services Recreation Club
Aizaz Khan (C) Kowloon Cricket Club
Babar Hayat Pakistan Association Cricket Club
Ehsan Khan Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Ehsan Nawaz Pakistan Association Cricket Club
Ghazanfer Mohammad Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Kinchit Shah (VC) Hong Kong Cricket Club
Kyle Christie United Services Recreation Club
Nasrulla Rana Pakistan Association Cricket Club
Nizakat Khan Kowloon Cricket Club
Scott McKechnie (WK) Singapore Cricket Club
Tanveer Ahmed Hong Kong Cricket Club
Waqas Barkat Kowloon Cricket Club
Waqas Khan Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Reserves:
Shahid Wasif Little Sai Wan Cricket Club
Tanwir Afzal Pakistan Association Cricket Club
Raag Kapur Hong Kong Cricket Club
Simondeep Singh Kowloon Cricket Club
Haroon Arshad Little Sai Wan Cricket Club