Hong Kong make another case for the cause of Associates
dubai — This was like a glimpse into the future — it is where they can hopefully be but are not there yet. But with a bit of support and encouragement from the cricketing family — the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Full Members, Hong Kong could show that they belong with the sport’s elite.
Hong Kong, who lost their ODI status that they had held from 2014 until now, were thought to be surprise entrants for the Asia Cup ahead of the UAE and Nepal, but the tiny nation more than punched above their weight against India in Dubai on Tuesday night.
And while their captain, the young Anshuman Rath was chuffed that his men ran the Indians close, the 20-year-old, like many other skippers of Associate nations, asked for more fixtures with top teams. “We don’t know what the ICC have in plan for us,” Rath said after finishing their engagements at the Asia Cup. It will be a while when Hong Kong get another opportunity such as this to rub shoulders with team like India, Pakistan, with them staring at an empty calendar.
“So, hopefully this performance helps. The next three or four years will be a bit quiet for us going into a bit of a rebuilding period. But, hopefully, the ICC recognise that Associate cricket has got a lot better and today we just proved that,” he added. Without a doubt, Hong Kong’s steely show was another tale making a case for the Associates, who are crying to be heard.
And Rath said that more fixtures such as this is the only way forward if they are to improve and eventually join the big boys. “I think it is more exposure to high level cricket,” felt Rath.
And the opener cited Afghanistan as the perfect example. “You look at Afghanistan as a prime example. Back in 2011 to 2015, they were performing like us, sort of upsetting the odd team but going to a string of performances where they were getting bowled out for 140 or 150 on good decks, just like we did against Pakistan,” he said.
“But with the right backing, they started getting better and better, training a lot harder, fully contracted and now the professionalism is there. And now, they are pretty much about to top Group B in the Asia Cup. So, that is definitely something that does lack in Associate cricket is the exposure to high level cricket and today we just proved that we are capable of it and there a lot of Associate teams that are capable of it. You look at Scotland in the World Cup qualifiers and they narrowly missed out. So, it is getting there and we just need to recognition,” added the southpaw. Rath was obviously gutted to have let India off the hook after a golden chance to create one of the biggest upsets in history.
“It was bittersweet. We really proved to the world what we can do. But in saying that, we had India by the horns and we really should have finished it off. If we are being hard on ourselves which we should be, we should’ve finished that game off,” Rath said. Growing and globalising the game has been one of ICC’s mission statement but it is only that much they can do and these Associates need the backing of the other countries, who not long ago, were perhaps in the same situation.