The Chang Jung Christian University women’s cricket team practiced yesterday under the guidance of two touring internationals from the Hong Kong women’s cricket squad who came to visit them in Greater Tainan.
Hong Kong’s Annie Ho and Charlotte Chan began playing cricket in elementary school and were selected to represent the territory after playing for the Hong Kong Cricket Club.
Pending selection, their next outing will be at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, in October.
Photo: Grant Dexter
Upon learning that Ho and Chang had planned a holiday in Taiwan, Hong Kong coach Najeeb Amar urged the pair to visit the university team, which his friend, Taiwan Cricket’s Ali Chang, helped found.
“They have some good players here,” Ho said. “They watch the ball well and can hit.”
“In one or two years, they could be good enough to attend an event like the Asian Games,” she added.
Photo: Grant Dexter
“In our team, some of the girls have not played much, but they like to learn and have strong minds so they improve quickly, and it looks to be the same [case] here,” Ho said, adding that “the real issue is match experience — they need to play more games.”
The university cricketers said they struggled a little to keep up with Ho and Chan, but were keen to learn from the experience.
“They play the game a lot faster than we do,” Chang Jung Christian University bowler Lisa Li said. “We practice twice a week and with a bit more [work], we could compete with them [the Hong Kong cricketers].”
However, while Ho and Chan have an international tournament to look forward to — which will pit them and their teammates against rivals such as China, Malaysia, Thailand and Iran — the Tainan team said they were itching for more chances to play.
“They have other commitments as students, of course, so it is difficult to arrange games,” Chang said.
Huang Tai-yuan, the university’s director of physical education, attended the practice to watch the women play, saying: “We are very happy to be among the first universities in Taiwan with a cricket team and we are fortunate to have cricket facilities to practice on.”
“We hope other schools and universities can also open up to cricket,” Huang added.
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