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China's shaky cricket debut

Tuesday, 27th January 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (5)

Coach Rashid Khan is carried off the field after his first win
Coach Rashid Khan is carried off the field after his first win
With the Asian Games coming up in November 2010 in Guangzhou, host China is of course looking to make the best showing that it can in every sport. To that end, China's senior national cricket team entered its first competition last week in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Playing at the Asian Cricket Council Trophy Challenge, an event that does not include such powerhouses as India and Pakistan, China showed it has a ways to go to become a competitive team. The team lost by wide margins to Iran, Thailand and Maldives before finally beating Myanmar in the seventh-place game by 118 runs. (complete tournament results here).

The team is coached by Pakistani Rashid Khan, who, according to a report on the Asian Cricket Council's Web site, said after the Myanmar game: "in more than five years, [China and Myanmar] will be up to the level of ACC Trophy Elite," (i.e., one of the "best of the rest").

China's cricket team right now has both the support of the national sports administration, which hopes for a respectable showing at the next Asian Games and by the International Cricket Council, which announced last July that it was investing $300 million in the global growth of the game, over seven years beginning in 2009.

Chinese cricket team image: Asian Cricket Council

Tags: 2010 Asian Games, Asian Cricket Council, Chinese national team, cricket, International Cricket Council, Rashid Khan

Comments

  • Michael
    Tuesday, 27th January 2009
    It's great to see cricket on your blog. I just have one little correction - 118 points should be 118 runs. Results of cricket matches are calculated using runs not points.
  • Maggie
    Tuesday, 27th January 2009
    Thanks, Michael. I'm pretty much clueless about cricket. But it looks like if the ICC has its way, I'll have to study up fast.
  • shehzad bangash
    Sunday, 10th May 2009
    i am very happy to see that china is taking interest in cricket and going to make an international cricket team i am a big lover of cricket and crazy about cricket i also play cricket and i want to join china cricket team and i believe that china will be a better team in future if they practise hard best of luck for the upcoming tournament in 2010
  • sapya
    Saturday, 24th October 2009
    is there a chance for FOREIGNERS to join china Cricket..??
  • Maggie
    Tuesday, 27th October 2009
    Well, the coach is Pakistani. There's one for you. I don't think there are any recreational teams in China, just the national team and maybe a couple of sport school teams.

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