Hong Kong team departs for Chennai

The Hong Kong cricket team has departed for a 10-day tour of Chennai. The tour will be used as preparation for the upcoming ICC World Cricket League Division 3 tournament to be held in Darwin, Australia, at the end of May 2007.

The Hong Kong teams departs under the leadership of a new skipper, Ilyas Gull, and the team will receive coaching from former Indian international Sameer Dighe and Tamil Nadu's Peter Fernandez.

The team will be based at the MAC Spin Foundation in Chennai and players will undertake intensive coaching and training during the tour. Four practise matches are also planned against local opposition. A similar tour to Chennai was undertaken in July 2006, as a prelude to Hong Kong's highly successful campaign at the ACC Trophy 2006, where Hong Kong reached the final.

If Hong Kong reach the final of the Darwin event, they will be elevated to Division 2 of the ICC World Cricket League and will play in the WCL Div 2 tournament to be held in Namibia in November 2007. In the eight-team Darwin tournament, Hong Kong will play group matches against Uganda, Cayman Islands and Tanzania. The other teams participating are Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Italy and Argentina.

A preview of the ICC WCL Division 3 tournament will follow shortly.

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