Hong Kong cricket coach pays tribute to world-leading batting pair, hails young talent
Head coach Simon Willis on mission to ‘help change lives’ of city’s stars, expects to make few changes for Emerging Nations Asia Cup
Head coach Simon Willis has lauded his two batting kingpins, as Hong Kong prepare to meet some of the continent’s finest talent at next month’s Emerging Nations Asia Cup in Oman.
Hong Kong are in a group with the ‘A’ sides from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in the eight-team competition, which gets under way on October 18.
The cup is the side’s first chance to respond to the disappointment of being eliminated from T20 World Cup qualifying in Malaysia this month.
Willis has pledged to begin the process of steadily introducing young blood to his squad, but will not make wholesale changes for a tournament he said would “provide an opportunity for players to learn about themselves”.
Hong Kong will go to Oman, where they are planning to arrange two warm-up matches, armed with a couple of the world’s most in-form hitters, in the shape of Nizakat Khan and Babar Hayat.
Captain Nizakat is the leading run scorer in T20 international cricket in 2024, after making 784 runs in 28 matches. Babar, who has flourished after moving one place down the order to No 4, is third on the list, after his 27 appearances yielded 651 runs. The pair are separated by Pakistan firecracker Babar Azam, who has 660 runs from 19 matches.
