Hong Kong head coach Trent Johnston, who was a former Ireland cricketer, has revealed that the Hong Kong cricketers are not paid enough by their cricket board to take care of their day to day lives and almost all of them have to indulge in some other profession to look after their families.
Hong Kong has been able to qualify to the group round of Asia Cup 2022 after putting on some wonderful performances in the qualifiers, but according to Johnston, the Hong Kong team doesn’t spend as much time together as the players of other national teams do because the Hong Kong players are only semi-professional players at this stage.
Trent Johnston, who was talking to ESPNcricinfo, further stated that his players are indulged in different types of work. A lot of them are delivery boys with food apps, while a couple of them are indulged in small businesses which give them the luxury to play cricket on a part-time basis.
Recalling the last couple of years when Hong Kong was under lockdown for long periods, Johnston said that his players had to train through zoom sessions and they were not gathering at the practice facilities for proper strength and conditioning.
My players are not complaining while they are in UAE: Trent Johnston
Trent Johnston said that even now when his players are in UAE participating in the Asia Cup 2022, their primary work back home might be suffering, but the players are not bothered about that and all of them are in UAE with the sole focus of doing as well as they can for the Hong Kong national cricket team.
Hong Kong Captain (to @rohitjuglan) said "Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli are great players of world cricket, you can learn a lot from them – their records speak for themselves".
Advertisement— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 30, 2022
When Hong Kong had faced India in the last Asia Cup of 2018, which was played in the ODI format, they had given India a bit of a fight and they would hope they replicate it in the ongoing tournament, as they face one of the powerhouses of world cricket tonight.
