Coach takes blame as Hong Kong lose to Italy, says he is ready to take city to next level

Simon Willis shouldered responsibility for Hong Kong’s damaging seven-wicket loss to Italy on Sunday, but said he was “fully up” for the fight of trying to elevate the city team to the “next level”.

After also going down heavily to Uganda on Thursday, Hong Kong have lost significant ground on the top two in Cricket World Cup Challenge League B to leave their hopes of recapturing ODI status all but over for another five years. The final Challenge League leg, where World Cup qualifying progress is also at stake, is in Tanzania next year.

Englishman Willis said his team’s display against Italy was symptomatic of “the past six months, when we’ve not been good enough in big games”.

In a repeat of their batting effort against Uganda, when they folded from 38 for 0 to 56 for five, Hong Kong wasted a promising start. From 55 for one, they slumped to 85 for five, with probably only Nizakat Khan able to attribute his downfall to misfortune, after he received a marginal lbw decision.

“We had a great start, but lost wickets when we didn’t need to,” Willis said. “That gave Italy momentum and hope, and we were always struggling with 146 on the board.

“[Batting collapses are] down to pressure. Sometimes, the guys take on too much and don’t realise it’s just another game.”