Cook conjures up a magic recipe for Hong Kong
We need to keep raising the profile of the national team on the world stage, coach says
It was not an easy road for Hong Kong to make their way to Asia Cup against all odds.
Simon Cook, the English coach of Hong Kong team, looked back at the struggles of a nation which wants to make their mark in international cricket.
“We struggle for facilities but we don’t shy away from coping with it. We only have 800 or so cricketers playing league cricket but there are a lot of people who really want to play cricket. We have a lot of modified versions of the game like the tapeball cricket. Lots of cricket is played out in Hong Kong as supposed to the conventional game,” Cook told Gulf News on the eve of their opening match against Pakistan.
When asked how important will it be for Hong Kong cricket to be playing in the Asia Cup, Cook said: “We need to keep raising the profile of the national team on the world stage. It really adds fuel to the fire of trying to increase our participation numbers and our facilities.”
From losing their one-day status during the ICC Qualifiers, Hong Kong have staged a strong comeback. “One day International status is a great thing to have and a good incentive for the guys to play. It is also a motivating factor for the next four years. It really hurts to lose that status and it galvanised the group to push hard.”
To a query about his team’s strategy to stop UAE in the Asia Cup qualifier final, Cook, who has played for Kent and Middlesex as an all-rounder before becoming a coach, said: “We did not do anything different. We just applied ourselves. We did a lot of analysis and we prepared a little more specifically. We had a 10-day preparation tour in Malaysia to understand the conditions. So all of those little things came together and so we ended up coming up on top.”
Learning experience
What is the Hong Kong expecting to gain from playing in the Asia Cup?
“Our team is a very young with average age in mid-20s. This group has been together since they were 14 or 15 years old and they know how to play together. They also play against each other back in Hong Kong and so they have great friendship too. We are expecting to compete as much as we can. We will benchmark ourselves against the best in the world. It is a great opportunity to have that learning experience and maybe, you never know, we cause an upset too.”
Talking about his squad, Cook said: “In the batting lineup we have Anshuman Rath, who is scoring a lot of runs and he has taken over the captaincy. He has been very consistent for the last two years both in 50 over cricket and Twenty 20 formats. We have Babar Hayat, an explosive cricketer who had some success in T20 franchise cricket around the world. Aizaz Khan (player of the Asia Cup qualifier final) has also progressed very well.”
So, what will be his team’s strategy against the formidable India and Pakistan? “India is coming off a pretty hectic tour of the UK. So you never know what may happen on the day if our players are good enough to make it their day. If we stick together and perform to the best of our abilities, we can walk off with our heads high, regardless of the result,” added Cook.