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Hong Kong star Kapur set to play against city team after New Zealand Sixes call

The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes returns to the city after a seven-year hiatus, with England, Australia, India and Pakistan all sending teams

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Todd Astle will lead the New Zealand squad at next month’s Sixes in Hong Kong. Photo: AFP

Young Hong Kong all-rounder Raunaq Kapur is poised to play against his own city after being named in the seven-man New Zealand squad for next month’s Hong Kong Cricket Sixes at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.

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The Kiwis will play Pool A rivals Hong Kong and South Africa on the Sixes’ opening day, November 1.

Kapur, 20, made his Hong Kong debut five years ago in a Cricket World Cup Challenge League game against Italy in December 2019, and featured in two one-day clashes with Malaysia earlier this year. He played his first T20 international, against Saudi Arabia, in April.

A former West Island School pupil, Kapur relocated to New Zealand to study in 2019 and he is pursuing a psychology and economics degree at the University of Canterbury.

Former Test and white-ball international Todd Astle will captain New Zealand, who also include former under-19 internationals Sam Cassidy and Xavier Bell.

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The Black Caps’ Antipodean rivals Australia will be led in the three-day Hong Kong tournament by nomadic T20 specialist Dan Christian. The record appearance maker in Australia’s Big Bash League, with 137 games under his belt, Christian became the first man from his country to clobber five sixes in one T20 international over when he put Bangladesh’s slow left armer, Shakib Al Hasan, to the sword in August 2021.

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