Hong Kong T20 Blitz

Hong Kong T20 Blitz
香港廿廿閃電戰 (Chinese)

Hong Kong T20 Blitz Logo
Countries	Hong Kong
Administrator	Cricket Hong Kong
Format	Twenty20
First tournament	2016
Last tournament	2018
Next tournament	2019
Tournament format	Round-robin and finals
Number of teams	5
Current champion	Kowloon Cantons (2nd title)
Current trophy holder	Hung Hom JD Jaguars (1st title)
Most successful	Kowloon Cantons (2nd title)
Most runs	Dwayne Smith (259) cricinfo
Most wickets	Saeed Ajmal (11) cricinfo
TV	List of broadcasters
Website	Hong Kong T20 Blitz

The Hong Kong T20 Blitz 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 Cricket Hong Kong (CHK) 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. Cricket Hong Kong 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 KaiTak.

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]} Since 2017 a fifth team has been added^[20] & five Chinese players were taken up by the five franchises in their squad^[21] although as of 2018^[22] they are yet to be given any significant role or opportunity in the playing XI.

	Team	City	Home ground	Captain
	Kowloon Cantons	Kowloon	Mission Road Ground	Babar Hayat
	Hung Hom JD Jaguars	Hung Hom	Mission Road Ground	Kinchit Shah
	Galaxy Gladiators Lantau	Lantau	Mission Road Ground	Kumar Sangakkara
	HK Island United	Hong Kong Island	Mission Road Ground	Tanwir Afzal
	City KaiTak	Kai Tak	Mission Road Ground	Rayad Emrit

Tournament results

Hong Kong T20 Blitz season results

Season	Final			Final venue	Number of teams	Player of the series
	Winner	Winning margin	Runner-up
2016 Details	Hong Kong Island Warriors and Kowloon Cantons declared co-champions	Match abandoned	None/Joint Winners	Mission Road Ground	4	Not awarded
2017 Details	Kowloon Cantons	Won by 25 runs	City KaiTak	Mission Road Ground	5	Chris Jordan
2018 Details	Hung Hom JD Jaguars	Won by 6 runs	Galaxy Gladiators Lantau	Mission Road Ground	5	Kumar Sangakkara

Format

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

The 2017 event took place from 8 to 12 March. The five teams played each other once in a round-robin format, followed by a finals day. All the matches were 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.^[23]

International broadcasters

Territory	Network
United Kingdom	BT Sport [24]
Australia	Fox Sports [25]
Arab world	OSN Sports [26]
Asian Countries	Neo Sports [27]
West Indies	ESPN Caribbean [28]
African Countries	StarTimes [29]

References

External links

• Cricinfo Home