The Razdan Report: ACC Women's Tournament tour diary part 4

Every big sporting event produces stars. In 1982 the FIFA World Cup gave us Paulo Rossi, the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will always be remembered for the exploits of Carl Lewis and the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup introduced Sanath Jayasuriya to millions around the globe.

This ACC Women's Tournament in Malaysia only has a tiny fraction of the profile that those events enjoyed but it may still have discovered a star. Chan Sau Har is a 13-year-old girl from Kowloon and she recently became the youngest person to take a senior international hat-trick in the history of the game.

Chan has been playing cricket for just two years and in that time has developed a real love and fascination for the game. I caught up with the fun-loving teenager not long after she took her hat-trick in a match against neighbours China.

As she doesn't speak much English, I retained the services of an interpreter, Georgina.

"There is no long history of cricket in our family," she said. "My parents don't know anything about it. I was introduced to the game by my brother - he has been playing for a few years and he always enjoyed it so I thought I would give it a go too."

"It's a great game - I really love it and already it has given me opportunities to travel and meet new people.

"I started off as a fast bowler but Lal Jayasinghe suggested that I should bowl spin and so now I alternate between the two. I suppose there is plenty of time for me to decide which I am better at.

"My coach Eric (employed by the Hong Kong Cricket Association) was the one who has really helped me, and all of us on the team. We started off playing which a ball that had been taped before moving on to the real cricket ball," said Chan.

Although she is just 13, Malaysia is not the first place that Chan has travelled to with cricket. Earlier this year she went to Pakistan with the Hong Kong team. It was the first time she had ever left her country.

"It was an amazing experience. We played a match in front of 10,000 spectators. That made me very nervous but it was also a lot of fun."

"Taking that hat-trick against China was a real highlight for me as it enabled us to win the match (by 117 runs). I hope I can do it again in the future."

Chan has never really watched cricket and does not know who Shane Warne or Muttiah Muralidaran are but she is learning fast and says she is looking forward to taking her first five-wicket haul for Hong Kong. She is very much the baby of the Hong Kong team and has been taken under the wing of the senior players.

Hong Kong has an excellent primary school cricket programme which includes around 70 Chinese-speaking schools as well as international schools. As a result, there are several hundred Chinese girls who will be ready to play in the next couple of years. To cater for this, the authorities are now developing a league system and coaching programme for secondary school girls as well.

"For me, the important thing is my education but it is great to have cricket taught in school as well. It's such fun," said Chan.