Sporting History in the Making as Hong Kong Women's cricket team play China in Shenzhen, 24th June 2007

A small piece of sporting history will be made on 24th June when the first ever international cricket match between Hong Kong and China national teams will take place at Shenzhen University Stadium, Shenzhen on Sunday 24th June 2007.

This will be an important warm up match as both sides are currently preparing for the Asian Cricket Council Womens' Cricket tournament to be played in Malaysia from 11 - 17th July. The winners of this 8 nation tournament are expected to be invited to compete in the Asia Cup versus the Test playing nations later in the year.

"Everyone in the Hong Kong team is excited at the chance to play against China in Shenzhen at cricket, that will be special especially as it is the 10th anniversary of the Handover of Hong Kong to China this year," said Hong Kong Team Manager Mark Burns.

"The Hong Kong squad has been training hard over the last several months in preparation for the ACC Women's tournament," continued Mr Burns.

"We hope the ACC will allow the finalists of this tournament to enter the ACC Women's Asia Cup in the same way as in men's cricket," said Mr Burns.

China was recently accepted into the International Cricket Council as an Affiliate member and it was recently confirmed that cricket would be one of the official sports at the 2010 Asian Games to be staged in Guangzhou.

The Hong Kong team are training four times a week in preparation for the ACC tournament and will also play a series of practice matches in Hong Kong.

Neisha Pratt will again captain the Hong Kong squad as she did on the last international series in Pakistan in September 2006.

The 14 player squad selected is:

The 4 reserves are:

Team Coach: Lal Jayasinghe
Team Manager: Mark Burns

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For further information contact Mr Charles Lau, General Manager, Hong Kong Cricket Association on Tel. 2504 8101 or hkca@hkabc.net.

Hong Kong Cricket Association
www.cricket.com.hk