The Philippines starts its long and hard climb to join the world’s cricketing elite when it sees action in the International Cricket Council World T20 East Asia Pacific qualifier on Dec. 1 to 7 at the Emilio Aguinaldo College’s Friendship Oval in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
“This is an exciting moment for Philippine cricket,’’ said Philippine captain Jonathan Hill, a Filipino-Australian dual citizen. “We have matured and grown together as a group over the last few years, and had some encouraging results in competition overseas. I think we’re ready to take the next step. We’ve trained hard for this tournament and want to do well in front of our home crowd.’’
Hill, whose mother hails from Davao, and Philippine Cricket Association general manager Faisal Khan, guested in yesterday’s Tabloid Organization in Philippine Sports’ Usapang Sports at the National Press Club in Intramuros,Manila.
“I’d love to see Filipinos embrace the national team and come to the ground to support them,’’ said Khan also the tournament director.
Other countries competing teams are South Korea, Japan and Indonesia.
The winner of the qualifier will advance to the next round of qualifiers in Papua New Guinea. The ultimate prize is entry to the Cricket World Cup 2020 in Australia. The World Cup is expected to attract a global television audience of more than 1.5 billion people.