Cricket Hong Kong names 14-man squad for T20 World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe, as head coach praises team’s belief

Cricket Hong Kong has named its squad for the T20 World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe next week, and head coach Trent Johnston is just hoping he has a full complement of players to pick from.

Johnston and his tour party have been away since the start of June, with injury, illness and other issues plaguing a trip that has taken in Namibia, Uganda and now South Africa, where they are training ahead of the qualifiers.

Hardly anyone has escaped unscathed, Johnston included, and several players, including Shahid Wasif and Aftab Hussain, were drafted in earlier than planned as the likes of Dan Pascoe and Vikas Sharma headed home with injuries.

Despite that, Hong Kong have recovered from some early losses in Namibia to come through the Challenge League B tournament in Uganda with only one defeat in four games, and went into Wednesday’s last T20 practice game against a Dolphins XI in Durban 2-1 up in the four-match series.

The performances in Durban have mirrored those in Uganda, with the players taking turns to guide their side to victory. Eshan Khan, Shahid, Yasim Murtaza and Aizaz Khan have all starred at one time or another, while Haroon Arshad’s display in Tuesday’s two-run win, in which he bowled the final over with Dolphins needing five runs for victory, left Johnston particularly happy.

“It hasn’t been one individual, it’s been different people at different times,” the head coach said. “This team doesn’t rely on one person to get runs or get wickets – everyone chips in. It’s a good sort of combination to have, and we’ve certainly got better throughout these three games.

“We’ve had a few tough losses early on against Namibia, then we fought back and played pretty good cricket in Uganda, and again we’ve played some good cricket here [in Durban].”