Hong Kong national cricket team
The Hong Kong national cricket team is the team that represents independent Hong Kong in international competition. It played its first match in 1866 and has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1969. Hong Kong played its first One Day Internationals in the 2004 Asia Cup, and in January 2014 was granted ODI status until 2018, as a result of finishing third in the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. The team gained Twenty20 International status in November 2013, as a result of qualifying for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Hong  Kong lost their ODI status in March 2018 after losing to the Netherlands in a play-off match during the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. They did, however, play two further ODI matches at the 2018 Asia Cup in September 2018 after winning the 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier, as the ICC announced that all matches played at the finals would have ODI status. Hong Kong has played in every ICC Trophy/World Cup Qualifier tournament, with the exceptions of the 1979 and 2005 events. It has also taken part in two ICC Intercontinental Cup tournaments, in 2005 and in 2015–17 , and in two ICC T20 World Cup tournaments, in 2014 and 2016. In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Hong Kong and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I. History. Early years. The sport was introduced to Hong Kong by the British, with the first recorded game taking place in 1841, and the Hong Kong Cricket Club being founded ten years later. The Cricket Club (playing as Hong Kong) played a number of Interport matches against sides on the  Chinese mainland, the first taking place against Shanghai in 1866, and in 1890 played Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for the first time. 1892 saw disaster when the , which was carrying the team back from Shanghai, sank in a typhoon with the loss of 125 lives. There were only 23 survivors, which included only 2 of the 13 team members. The other 11 members of the team were lost, including Surrey cricketer John Dunn. 1948 saw the last game against Shanghai.Jack Chegwyn led the first international team to Hong Kong in 1952, and the first tour by an MCC team  was in 1966. The MCC, captained by Mike Smith played one match against the national side, winning by 74 runs. In 1969 the Hong Kong Cricket Association became an associate member of the International Cricket Council, cricket's global ruling body. ICC membership. The year after gaining ICC membership, the Hong Kong national side played against an MCC side captained by Tony Lewis, drawing the game, but it was not until the 1982 ICC Trophy when the Hong Kong team next played. At that tournament the Hong Kong team, which featured future England Test cricketer Dermot Reeve, failed to progress  beyond the first round. Hong Kong took part in the following three ICC Trophy tournaments, again failing to progress beyond the first round in 1986, reaching the plate competition in 1990 and the second round in 1994. They then played in the inaugural ACC Trophy tournament in 1996, failing to progress beyond the group stage after losing to Bangladesh and Fiji. In 1997, Hong Kong returned to Chinese control. In the same year, the national team finished eighth in the ICC Trophy. They played in the ACC Trophy again in 1998, losing to Malaysia in the semi-finals. 21st century . 2000–2009. In 2000, Hong Kong reached the final of the ACC Trophy, where they lost to the United Arab Emirates. Nonetheless, this earned them qualification for the 2002 Asia Cup (which was subsequently moved to 2004), and thus their first taste of One Day International cricket. Hong Kong fared poorly in the 2001 ICC Trophy, going out in the group stage having achieved only one win, against Papua New Guinea. In 2002, they reached the semi-finals of the ACC Trophy, again losing to the United Arab Emirates. At the 2004 Asia Cup, held in Sri Lanka, Hong Kong were  drawn alongside Test nations Bangladesh and Pakistan. They lost both matches heavily, despite restricting Bangladesh to 221/9 in the first match. Also in 2004, Hong Kong failed to progress beyond the first round of the ACC Trophy after losing in the group stages to Oman and Bahrain, missing out on qualification for the 2005 ICC Trophy in Ireland. They also reached the final of the ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament, losing to the United Arab Emirates. Hong Kong played in the Intercontinental Cup for the first time in 2005. They lost to the UAE and drew with Nepal, failing to  reach the semi-finals. They finished last in the fast-track nations tournament the same year. In 2006, Hong Kong again lost to the United Arab Emirates in the final of the ACC Trophy, and finished fourth in the ACC Premier League. The following year, they travelled to Darwin, Australia to take part in Division Three of the World Cricket League, finishing fifth, relegating them to Division Four for 2008. In October/November 2007, Hong Kong took part in the inaugural ACC Twenty20 Cup held in Kuwait, where they played in Group B against the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Kuwait  and Saudi Arabia. Hong Kong finished 4th in their group and failed to make to the semi-finals stage. In June 2008, Hong Kong took part in the Asia Cup in Pakistan. They failed to progress beyond the group stage to the Super Four stage, as they lost both of their group A matches against India and Pakistan convincingly. In October 2008, Hong Kong travelled to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania to participate in Division Four of the World Cricket League. Hong Kong won four group matches against; Fiji, Italy, Jersey and the hosts but lost twice to Afghanistan in their  group match and the Final. Hong Kong's top two finish resulted in their promotion back to Division Three. 2010–present. In 2011 they hosted the Division Three and won it defeating Papua New Guinea in the finals to qualify for Division Two to be held in the United Arab Emirates. Then in Division Two they came 4th qualifying as HPP member and for 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand. . In 2013 the UAE hosted the ICC T20 Qualifier where Hong Kong came 6th by beating Papua New Guinea and just enough to qualify for ICC T20 World  Cup 2014 held in Bangladesh. In 2014, New Zealand hosted the ICC 50 over world cup qualifier where Hong Kong came third place despite not qualifying for 2015 ICC cricket world cup, they still achieved an ODI status with Papua New Guinea. In March 2014 Hong Kong beat the host Bangladesh in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 by two wickets with two balls remaining but could not make it to the next stage of super 10 having lost the two earlier matches to Afghanistan and Nepal Hong Kong first ODI win against a full member came on 8 March 2018  defeating Afghanistan in 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. Records. International Match Summary – Hong Kong "Last updated 6 March 2020." One Day Internationals. Most ODI runs for Hong Kong Most ODI wickets for Hong Kong Highest individual innings in ODI Best bowling figures in an innings in ODI ODI record versus other nations "Records complete to ODI #4039. Last updated 18 September 2018." Twenty20 Internationals. Most T20I runs for Hong Kong Most T20I wickets for Hong Kong T20I record versus other nations "Records complete to T20I #1076. Last updated 6 March 2020."