Hong Kong T20 Blitz

Hong Kong T20 Blitz

Countries	Hong Kong
Administrator	Cricket Hong Kong
Format	Twenty20
First tournament	2016
Next tournament	2018
Tournament format	Round-robin and finals
Number of teams	5
Current champion	Kowloon Cantons (2nd title)
Most successful	Kowloon Cantons (2)
Most runs	Dwayne Smith (259) cricinfo
Most wickets	Saeed Ajmal (11) cricinfo
Website	Hong Kong T20 Blitz
2017 Hong Kong T20 Blitz

The Hong Kong T20 Blitz known as the DTC Hong Kong T20 Blitz for sponsorship reasons, is a cricket competition in Hong Kong that was first played in 2016. The inaugural event consisted of four franchised teams playing in a Twenty20 format only.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Kowloon Cantons and Woodworm Island Warriors were joint winners of the inaugural DTC Hong Kong T20 Blitz after rain washed out finals day.^[6]

History

The Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) announced their plans for the event in April 2016, stating they would invest in a Twenty20 cricket league for the development cricket in Hong Kong as well as in nearby countries. The competition would launch with four teams playing in a Twenty20 format. Hong Kong Cricket Association announced that DTC Mobiles will sponsor the tournament.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Before the second season, Leonine Sports Group acquired the Woodworm Island Warriors, changing the name to Hong Kong Island (HKI) United. A new fifth franchise was also added and named City Kai Tak.

Teams

Cricket Hong Kong announced the four hosts for the Hong Kong T20 Blitz League in April 2016, with hosting rights awarded for the first years of the competition. Team names, along with the fixtures and venues for the 2016 season, were announced in April 2016. The allocation of domestic players was decided by a draft held on April 28, 2016. All four franchises also subsequently signed a number of international players.^[13][14][15] Tanwir Afzal captain of Hong Kong national cricket team was selected as the first pick in the inaugural draft for tournament by Woodworm Island Warriors.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Team		City	Home ground	Coach	Captain	Overseas players
	Kowloon Cantons	Kowloon	Mission Road Ground	Craig Wright	Babar Hayat	Shahid Afridi Dwayne Smith Calum MacLeod Yasir Arafat Marlon Samuels Sandeep Lamichhane
	Hung Hom JD Jaguars	Hung Hom	Mission Road Ground	n/a	Kinchit Shah	Darren Sammy Mohammad Hafeez Mohammad Naveed Johan Botha James Franklin
	Galaxy Gladiators Lantau	Lantau	Mission Road Ground	Scott McKechnie	Kumar Sangakkara	Kumar Sangakkara Jesse Ryder Sohail Tanvir Seekkuge Prasanna Assad Vala
	Hong Kong Island United	Hong Kong Island	Mission Road Ground	Ryan Campbell	Atif Ahmed Chowdhury	Misbah Ul-Haq Ian Bell Samuel Badree Saeed Ajmal George Munsey
	City Kai Tak	Kai Tak	Mission Road Ground	Robin Singh	Aizaz Khan	Tillakaratne Dilshan Kyle Coetzer Nicholas Pooran Rayad Emrit Chris Jordan

Squads^[20]

Tournament results

Format

The 2016 event took place on May 29 and 30. The four teams played each other once in a round robin format; this was followed by a finals day. All the matches were played at Mission Road Ground, Mong Kok

The 2017 will take place from 8 March to 12 March the five teams will play each other once in a round robin format; this will be followed by a finals day. All the matches we be played at the Mission Road Ground, Mong Kok

Media coverage

Coverage of Hong Kong T20 Blitz 2016 was broadcast live on Hong Kong Cricket Association’s YouTube channel. Dean Jones, Jack Richards and Fox Sports’ Katherine Loughnan were hosts and also part of the commentary team.^[21]

Sponsorship

The HKCA announced a year title sponsorship agreement for the Hong Kong T20 Blitz League with DTC Mobiles in April 2016. As a result, the competition will be known as the DTC HK T20 Blitz.^[22] This agreement was renewed for 2017.

References

External links

• Cricinfo Home

Cricket in Hong Kong
Governing body	Cricket Hong Kong
National teams	Men's team U-19 team Women’s team
Tournaments	Hong Kong Cricket Sixes Hong Kong Premier League Two-Day Hong Kong Premier League One-Day Tournament Hong Kong T20 Blitz
Teams	City Kai Tak Galaxy Gladiators Lantau Hong Kong Island United Hung Hom JD Jaguars Kowloon Cantons
Clubs	Hong Kong Cricket Club Kowloon Cricket Club Craigengower Cricket Club United Services Recreation Club Diasqua Pakistan HKG Independents XI
Grounds	Mission Road Ground Kowloon Cricket Club Hong Kong Cricket Club
Player lists	ODI cricketers Twenty20 Players Captains