Extra ground will help HK tenfold, says top official

The national team's performance would "increase tenfold" if Hong Kong had access to one more ground with a natural surface, top official Dinesh Tandon said. But such hopes have been shot down by the government which rejected a call from a legislator to build more public facilities.

The Hong Kong men's team returned home early this morning from Dubai having secured the financial future of the Hong Kong Cricket Association, which is expected to receive more than US$1 million from the International Cricket Council for reaching the high-performance category.

Association chairman Tandon said this proved the scope for the game in Hong Kong. The men's team are provisionally ranked 20th in the world after finishing fourth in the ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament. It is the highest world ranking held by a team sport in Hong Kong.

"If we had access to even one more ground with a natural surface for our Sunday leagues, the performances would increase tenfold," Tandon said.

"The availability of a natural surface to play and practise on at Mission Road [in Mong Kok] over the past five months has already resulted in a marked improvement in our team," Tandon said. "It was an excellent performance in Dubai, keeping in mind our team comprises amateurs."

With interest in the game increasing across the board - men, women and children - the association is desperate for more facilities.

Civic Party legislator Margaret Ng (pictured), in a question tabled at Legco last week, asked Home Affairs Secretary Tsang Tak-sing why no more grounds were available for cricket on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories.

Tsang replied there were two public cricket venues in Kowloon, but there were no plans to build any more. However, he said the government would continue to monitor the use of pitches and liaise with the association with a view to identifying suitable sites for temporary or permanent facilities.

With China taking up the sport - the Asian Games for the first time included cricket as a medal sport last year and Guangzhou built a cricket stadium - the Hong Kong association believes the game has great potential here and on the mainland.

Association general manager Danny Lai suggested multi-purpose grounds and practice nets as a first step towards helping develop the sport.

"We understand the limitations of land which affects not only cricket but other sports. To overcome this problem, the government should provide multi-purpose grounds which can be shared by both cricket and baseball," Lai said.

"Both require a larger field than other sports. If the Home Affairs Bureau could allocate a ground that both sports could share, it would kill two birds with one stone.

"The other possibility is to use cricket practice nets, instead of building a full-sized cricket ground. Such facilities, if provided in various Leisure and Cultural Services Department parks, would allow fans at least to have a chance to bowl and bat safely without endangering the public.

"The size of one practice net is only 4 metres x 35m and they can be maintenance free. We have free public table tennis, football, badminton, roller skating, basketball facilities in most LCSD parks, I do not see why public cricket practice nets cannot be installed," Lai said.

The team returned to widespread acclaim, with the association promising to reward players to the tune of HK$150,000.

Tandon said: "Full credit to the coach, Charlie Burke, for making use of limited resources to mould and put together a competitive disciplined squad.

"Now that we have access to additional funding we need to be really strategic in our approach.

"We definitely need to come up with a suitable plan to increase our membership, invest in development of the game at grassroots level and promote the sport within the local community. This would sustain and benefit the game in the long run."