THE first-ever World Cup Cricket qualifier to be hosted in the Philippines is just days away with national teams from Indonesia, Japan and South Korea now arriving in Manila to join the Philippine team for the week-long event starting Saturday.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) World T20 East Asia Pacific (EAP) Qualifier Group B will see the four teams compete to advance to the next round of qualifiers in Papua New Guinea in 2019. The ultimate prize is entry to the Cricket World Cup to be played in Australia in 2020. The World Cup is expected to attract a global television audience of more than 1.5 billion people.
The EAP qualifier will be played at Friendship Oval at Emilio Aguinaldo College, Dasmariñas, Cavite from 1−7 December. The Philippine team enters the tournament as favorites.
“This is an exciting moment for Philippines cricket,” said 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 competitions 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.”
The Philippine national team is a mix of players who have risen through the ranks of the Philippine Cricket Association leagues and development programs, and overseas-born Filipinos starring in domestic leagues just below the top tier in Australia and England.
The Philippines will rely heavily on the talented Australia-based foursome of Hill, a proven match winner at the international level, Henry Tyler, a second grade top-order batsman from Melbourne, debutant Grant Russ, a swing bowler from Australia’s far north, and Daniel Smith, a first grade fast bowler and state representative from Sydney who also plays for Kent and Hampshire in England.
“I live for cricket. It’s what I’ve done all my life,” said Smith, who made his debut for the Philippines at an East Asia Pacific competition in Australia last year. “To play cricket for my Mum’s country makes her extremely proud and that’s a really good feeling for me. I’m really excited to represent the Philippines on home soil for the first time.”
Matches are scheduled on 1−3 December and 5-7 December with 4 December set aside as a reserve day in case of rain. Two 3-hour games will be played each day starting at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The Philippines’ first game is against South Korea on Saturday 1 December at 1:30 p.m. They play Japan at the same time the next day. The event is free for spectators.
“I’d love to see Filipinos embrace their national team and come to the ground to support them,” said Faisal Khan, the local tournament director and general manager of the Philippine Cricket Association.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to see the stars of the game in the Philippines and from around Asia. T20 cricket is easy to understand and really exciting to watch. If you are 8 or 80 years old you will enjoy it. It’s a terrific family day out.”

ABU DHABI — Lewis Hamilton bared body and soul on Sunday after stripping down to his waist on the podium following his victory in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver, who had already clinched his fifth Formula One championship, has a large cross and the words ‘Still I rise’ tattooed prominently on his back, with plenty of ink elsewhere as well.
The Briton said he had wanted to use it as an inspiration for others.
“I’ve always kind of wanted to do it, because I wanted to show ‘Still I Rise,’” he told Sky Sports television when asked about his celebrations.
“And I think it was the perfect moment because that’s really how it’s been this year.”
The Briton ended the season with 11 wins, equalling his best for a campaign, but the year did not start out that way with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel winning the first two and Hamilton on the back foot.
For much of the first half of the season, the champion was telling people he did not have the quickest car but he and Mercedes came back strongly after the August break and reaped the rewards.
Hamilton, Formula One’s first black champion who has risen from an under-privileged background to success and wealth beyond his dreams, urged people to read ‘Still I Rise,’ a poem by American Maya Angelou.
“Please go and read it because it applies to anyone who’s stumbling and falling,” he said.
“Look at Billy Monger, he’s been a real inspiration to me this year,” he added, referring to the young British driver who lost both his legs in a Formula Four crash last year but came back to stand on the podium in Formula Three in March.
“He probably looks up to me because he wants to be in Formula One but what he’s done…that’s really what ‘Still I Rise’ is all about,” said Hamilton.
“I really wanted to end the season strong and I think on a personal note I was able to do that,” he said.
“I wanted to end the way I plan to start next year, and that was kind of the new psyche.
“I’ve grown, I’ve understood myself more,” he said, when asked what he had learned. “I’ve just been able to be a better me all year long and that’s never going to stop.
“I’m going to continue to try and work on that and on the output, on the energy I’m projecting to people, my commitment to all the different things I have.” — Reuters

LONDON — Alexander Albon will become the first Thai to race in Formula One’s modern era after the Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso team announced on Monday that they had signed the British-born youngster for next season.
The 22-year-old, who joins Russian Daniil Kvyat in a new lineup, finished third in this year’s Formula Two championship and had been due to compete for Nissan in the all-electric Formula E series.
The only other Thai to have raced in Formula One was the wealthy Birabongse Bhanuban, better known as Prince Bira, who contested 18 grands prix between 1950 and 1954 with a best result of fourth.
Albon’s arrival means New Zealander Brendon Hartley, a Le Mans 24 Hours winner and world endurance champion, has lost his seat.
Hartley’s French team mate Pierre Gasly has graduated to the main Red Bull Racing team. — Reuters

ZURICH — Global soccer body FIFA has been urged by its own human rights advisory panel to give Iran a deadline for allowing women to watch soccer matches.
In a report published Monday, the panel said that Iran’s ban on women fans violated FIFA’s own ethics code which “specifically prohibits discrimination including on the basis of gender.”
Iranian women and girls have not been allowed to attend any men’s sporting events in the country for much of the 39 years since the Islamic revolution, and have not been granted access to matches involving top clubs since 1981.
However, this month, Iranian news agencies reported that an unspecified number of local women were allowed to attend the Asian Champions League final between home side Persepolis and Japan’s Kashima Antlers at Tehran’s Azadi stadium.
FIFA’s panel, made up of eight independent experts from the United Nations, trade unions and FIFA sponsors, also noted that women were able to attend screenings at the same venue of two of Iran’s matches during the World Cup.
It described this as a “positive” development but added that “these ad hoc decisions are obviously not the same as a formal end to the ban.”
The panel said “FIFA should be explicit about the time frame in which it expects (Iran) to align with FIFA’s human rights expectations.”
It said FIFA should also be clear about possible sanctions should Iran not fall into line.
FIFA statutes say that discrimination can be punishable by “suspension or expulsion” although its disciplinary code allows for lighter sanctions such as fines and partial stadium closures. — Reuters