By Benjamin Wickham
Hong Kong, April 24 — Former Australian fast bowler Geoff Lawson has taken temporary charge of the Hong Kong women’s team for a quadrangular tournament in Namibia this week. The women’s team will play their first international cricket matches in Africa in the tournament. Lawson, who was also the former coach of Pakistan, expressed his honour to work with the Hong Kong women’s team. Hong Kong will play against Namibia in their first match on Monday. This will be followed by matches against Uganda and the United Arab Emirates. Each side will play the other twice before the final and third-place game on May 2.
The Hong Kong team is led by Kary Chan, who will be supported by the newly appointed vice-captain Natasha Miles. Many of the players were involved in the FairBreak Invitational, which took place earlier this month. Chan said that competing against strong opposition in a different part of the world is an exciting prospect for the team. She added that her team is passionate about playing cricket and aims to put together winning performances in major tournaments.
Lawson, who is familiar with many of the players, will oversee the team in his role as interim head coach. He had previously coached a select XI during a tour of Europe and was a central figure with FairBreak in Hong Kong. He said while the objective is always to win, he would also be “looking at the bigger picture” and supporting individuals and the team to keep developing and improving as they build towards some big tournaments later in the year.
Cricket Hong Kong’s general manager, Mark Farmer, said that the tournament would provide a fantastic platform for the players to perform and gain invaluable experience. Most of the cricket games played by the team are in the Asian region, so the opportunity to play against opposition they have not had the chance to compete against previously, such as Namibia, is exciting.
The Hong Kong squad for the tournament includes Kary Chan (captain), Alison Siu, Betty Chan, Elysa Hubbard, Iqra Sahar, Lemon Cheung, Mariko Hill, Marina Lamplough, Maryam Bibi, Natasha Miles (vice-captain), Pull To, Ruchitha Venkatesh, Shanzeen Shazhad, and Yasmin Daswani. – Namibia Daily News
