FILIPINO-Australian players boosted Philippine Cricket team in the first ever International Cricket Council (ICC) tournament which opened over the weekend at Friendship Oval in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
Philippines was joined by Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea competing in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific “B” Qualifier.
The Philippines was considered as tournament’s favorites after finishing ahead of Indonesia and Japan in their last encounter in 2017.
Among the Fil-Aussie players suiting up for the national squad are Daniel Smith, Henry Tyler, Grant Russ, and captain Jonathon Hill.
For Hill, this tournament is “an amazing opportunity to promote the game to all the aspiring boys and girls across the country. For everyone involved with cricket, it is a tremendous honor to be playing this tournament at home, it’s the pinnacle of cricket in the Philippines to date,” Hill concluded.
Completing coach Mark Pekin Filipino side are Syed Tariq Ali, Kar Weng Ng, Biddappa Machanda, Ruchir Mahajan, Jan Haider Kiani, Manoj Gohal, Vimal Kumar, Surinder Singh, Milan Singh, and Muzammil Shahzad.
The tournament will be in a double round-robin T20 format.
The top team will qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Regional Final alongside Pacific qualifiers Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. (HGD)