Hong Kong Round-Up

The new 2000-01 Hong Kong League cricket season gets underway today with the first of all Saturday League matches, then from 24th September the Sunday League will commence.

HKCA Saturday League
16 teams will contest the 2000-01 Hong Kong Saturday League which is played to a 35 over format, with the Champions becoming known in February.

Defending Champions HKCC Nomads will be looking to retain their title of course. But the KCC teams have been preparing well in the close season and several independent teams such as Lamma CC and HKU are also likely to be tussling for the lead up to the death. Schoolboy side Islanders also have a strong side this season, by all accounts, and are likely to build on the successes of last year. HKCA Mainlanders XI, the HKCA Kowloon side Development team will this year field most of their players from Under 15 age level, supported by a number of adult coach/players.

All in all the HKCA Saturday League this season is pretty wide open and I suspect the Championship will go right down to the wire.

HKCA Sunday League
Nine teams will again contest this season's HKCA Sunday League with defending Champions Little Sai Wan CC likely to come under intense pressure. The Hong Kong Sunday League is played to a 50 over format. Players from several teams have changed their allegiances since last season, so it will be very interesting to see how some new-look teams fare. Pakistan Association will be out in the field with something to prove after doing 'the Double' in 1998-99 but ending up without any silverware last season. Perennial performers KCC Templars are likely to be one of the teams to beat this year and will doubtless figure in one of the top places come the end of the season.

There will be a number of changes coming into effect in Hong Kong cricket this year. After signing a sponsorship deal with Australian ball manufacturer Platypus, the Sunday League will use a superior grade of ball in matches this year, the Platypus Special Turf ball. The other, perhaps most dramatic change, will be the implementation of the new Laws of Cricket in Hong Kong league cricket. The Laws, rewritten by the MCC earlier this year will come into effect internationally from October. However, Hong Kong is likely to be one of the first Leagues anywhere in the world to implement the new Laws in their domestic cricket program. The only Law change which will not be implemented is the 5 run penalty option for umpires.

HKCA Junior Leagues
The third season of the Hong Kong Under 15 League also gets underway in September with the first matches being played on the 17th. Eight teams will compete in an 8-a-side format competition with the defending Champions being Sandy Bay.

The HKCA Under 11, Under 13 and U19 Junior Leagues will commence later in the year.

Not just the League program but also the outdoor junior coaching programs will be commencing shortly. Run by HKCA cricket coaches will be training hundreds of local children every week in structured coaching programs all over Hong Kong. In 1999 HKCA trained just over 5,000 children. This year HKCA is aiming to beat that number of children being coached in our sport.

International Cricket
Of course the Hong Kong National Team is in preparations for the forthcoming ACC Trophy to be held in November in Sharjah. With the top two teams from the tournament going through to the ACC Asia Cup in April, and then the ICC Trophy being held in Canada in July 2001, this could be the most important season in Hong Kong cricket ever.