EC Roundup – 8th December 2024 – From Hong Kong to Buenos Aires

Welcome to this week’s Emerging Cricket Roundup, condensing all the major news into one easy-to-digest place. In this week wrap:

Headlines

Mixed results at the U19 Asia Cup

Americans shine in Global Super League 

Thailand dominate Hong Kong Quadrangular

Regional tournaments underway

Mixed results at the U19 Asia Cup

It was a mixed bag for the associate nations at the recently concluded Men’s U19 Asia Cup, where none of the associate trio made the semi-finals. The greatest success came for Nepal who turned over Afghanistan by one wicket in a thrilling final group game. The result came too late to extend their tournament after losing their first two games, but the win lifted the Young Rhinos to 3rd in their group, ahead of the Afghans. Although the team struggled with the bat, Santosh Yadav’s seven wickets at an average of 14 over three games landed him eighth on the bowling charts.

In Group B, after UAE’s thumping win over Japan, neither side could claim any further success, both losing to India and Pakistan. UAE will have been encouraged by getting within 70 runs of a victory against Pakistan, whilst Japan’s greatest reason for cheer was batting all 50 overs against India. Aryan Saxena carried himself to 6th on the run charts after a 150 against Japan, whilst Kiefer Yamamoto-Lake’s seven wickets secured him a top 10 place on the wicket tally.

Americans shine in Global Super League as Steven Taylor and Harmeet Singh win title

Steven Taylor smashed Rangpur Riders to victory over Victoria to claim the inaugural Global Super League T20 Championship title. Taylor’s 68 from 49 helped Rangpur to a total of 178, which fellow Americans Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Corey Anderson and Karima Gore failed to chase, thanks in part to Harmeet Singh’s three wickets for only 19 runs in four overs.

Harmeet, a regular in USA’s lineup since his callup in March, finished the tournament tied for second in wickets with eight, at a 5.37 economy. Taylor’s 146 runs at a 141.74 strike rate put him at fifth amongst batters for the tournament, just behind Sanjay Krishnamurthi’s 152 runs at 138.18 strike rate.

Krishnamurthi was recently recalled for team USA after a high-octane summer saw the youngster dominate Major League and Minor League competition. The runner-up finish in the GSL is his third consecutive second place finish in big tournaments in 2024.

Taylor’s last USA appearance came in August at Rotterdam in the Cricket World Cup League Two, as an injury and drop in form saw him removed ahead of USA’s tour of Namibia. Since then, he’s made a serious case for his return, at least in the T20 format, blasting a pair of centuries in his final two innings of the Minor League Cricket season.

Victoria featured the largest USA presence in the tournament, with the San Francisco Unicorns partnership paying off for their American domestics. Karima Gore was among the tournament standouts, scoring 83 runs at a 41.5 average and 131.74 strike rate in a finishing role, earning him a player of the match recognition in Victoria’s first win against Guyana Amazon Warriors.

Thailand dominate Hong Kong Quadrangular

The Hong Kong WT20I Quadrangular finished with Thailand comfortable winners. After three comprehensive wins in the league stage, the Thai team successfully defended 72 in the final against Namibia, to win by 30 runs. This came after Thailand had thumped China, bowling out their opposition for a mere 8 in their final group stage game, the Chinese suffering the joint third lowest total in WT20Is.

Namibia were runners-up, beating both Hong Kong and China in the league stage, but lost twice to Thailand overall. Behind them, the hosts finished third, beating only their neighbours in the group stage and again in the third-place playoff, whilst China went winless in four games.

It was a largely low scoring tournament, with Hong Kong’s Mariko Hill the only player to pass 100 runs, whilst Thailand’s Onnicha Kamchomphu topped the bowling charts with 9 wickets.

Regional tournaments underway

Two more tournaments are underway. In Rwanda, Uganda have made a dominant start to the Continent Cup, with five wins out of five so far. Behind them, the field is extremely close with Nigeria, Botswana and Rwanda each on one or two wins at halfway. The tournament has a further four matches in its triple-round robin, with a final to take place on the 14th.

Meanwhile in Buenos Aires, Bermuda, Bahamas and Cayman Islands have made unbeaten starts to the Americas Sub-regional qualifier. The trio hold the three qualification berths for the regional final at the end of match day three. The nine-team, full round-robin event continues until December 16th.

Beyond the boundary

Joe Burns has been announced as Italy’s new men’s captain. The former Australia test opener made the switch to the of his mother earlier in 2024 and has so far represented the Azzurri in T20 World Cup Qualifiers and the CWC Challenge League B. Burns takes over the captain’s armband from Marcus Campopiano.

Coming Up

As well as the conclusion of the Continent Cup and the Americas Sub-Regional, the Gulf T20I Championship begins on the 13th of December. UAE play host to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia with the tournament consisting of a full round-robin and a final.

Namibia continues their tour of Southeast Asia with a three match WT20I series in Malaysia, between the 10th and 12th.

Finally, on-field action continues in the Nepal Premier League. The eight-team franchise tournament at the TU ground in Kathmandu continues until 21st December.

Reporting by Nate Hays and Tom Grunshaw