FIGHTING SPIRIT BUT A WORK IN PROGRESS

After loss to Oman in Premier Cup semi-final, Hong Kong coach Willis says they ‘cannot carry passengers’ in trying to compete with the best

Simon Willis praised the fight mustered by Hong Kong to take their ACC Premier Cup semi-final against hosts Oman to the wire, but says his side cannot afford to carry passengers against the strongest associate nations.

The head coach will join city officials in conducting a review of performances in Oman, where his team managed wins against Malaysia and Qatar, but were well beaten by Saudi Arabia and Nepal before their semi-final loss.

Having missed out on the chance to qualify for the Asia Cup, which will now come down to a straight fight between Oman and United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong had to beat Nepal in the thirdplace play-off to at least earn a spot in the second-tier Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

Hong Kong limped to 130 for nine in their last-four match on a wicket where a score of around 150 would have been par. Oman slumped to 65 for four in reply, but an unbeaten 62 from Aqib Ilyas guided them home with five wickets and four balls to spare.

“I was proud of how the players fought in the field. We have spoken a lot about competing rather than participating, as individuals, and in the two games [against Malaysia and Oman ] we did that,” Willis said. “To still be in the game in the final over was an outstanding effort.”

Willis said data compiled at the tournament would guide the Hong Kong review, where the selectors, captain Nizakat Khan and the senior players would be asked to contribute. “We will discuss what worked well and what didn’t, learn from those experiences, and come up with a plan for the future,” Willis said.

“We have to be honest with ourselves and find solutions to make us a better team. If I had the answer to exactly what needs to change, the job would be easy. But the first thing is that we need 11 players who are competing.

“We cannot go out there with seven or eight, because other teams are pretty much full-time professionals, and playing a lot of cricket against better teams.”

Willis said he maintained “a lot of faith” in a batting line-up that in Oman relied heavily on Nizakat, and the explosive Babar Hayat, with Aizaz Khan’s 37 against Qatar the highest score from outside those two.

He also said any criticism of Martin Coetzee would be harsh, after the opening batter scored 29 runs in four innings, with a top score of 12, at an average of 7.25.

“Martin was playing with a groin injury throughout the tournament, and suffered a back spasm against Oman,” Willis said.

There was also a staunch defence of bowler Ayush Shukla, who disappeared for 43 off 3.2 overs against Oman, and went for 42 from his four overs in the shock loss to the Saudis.

“Ayush has been one of our top players for a long time. Everybody has good and bad days, [the semi-final] was one when it did not go so well.” Willis said. “He takes on the challenge of bowling in the power play and at the death – the hardest times to bowl – and is a key player for us.”

But Willis acknowledged that with few players good enough to compete at the associate level, he did not have the luxury others had when it came to drawing from a wider pool of talent. “We have one or two coming through and given the right help and support they could be very successful.”

The first thing is we need 11 players who are competing. We cannot go out there with seven or eight SIMON WILLIS, HONG KONG HEAD COACH