The Hong Kong national cricket team is the team that represents independent Hong Kong in international competition. It played its first match in 1866 and has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1969. Hong Kong played its first One Day Internationals in the 2004 Asia Cup, and in January 2014 was granted ODI status until 2018, as a result of finishing third in the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. The team gained Twenty20 International status in November 2013, as a result of qualifying for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Hong Kong lost their ODI status in March 2018 after losing to the Netherlands in a play-off match during the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. They did, however, play two further ODI matches at the 2018 Asia Cup in September 2018 after winning the 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier, as the ICC announced that all matches played at the finals would have ODI status. Hong Kong has played in every ICC Trophy/World Cup Qualifier tournament, with the exceptions of the 1979 and 2005 events. It has also taken part in two ICC Intercontinental Cup tournaments, in 2005 and in 2015–17, and in two ICC T20 World Cup tournaments, in 2014 and 2016. In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Hong Kong and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I. History Early years The sport was introduced to Hong Kong by the British, with the first recorded game taking place in 1841, and the Hong Kong Cricket Club being founded ten years later. The Cricket Club (playing as Hong Kong) played a number of Interport matches against sides on the Chinese mainland, the first taking place against Shanghai in 1866, and in 1890 played Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for the first time. 1892 saw disaster when the , which was carrying the team back from Shanghai, sank in a typhoon with the loss of 125 lives. There were only 23 survivors, which included only 2 of the 13 team members. The other 11 members of the team were lost, including Surrey cricketer John Dunn. 1948 saw the last game against Shanghai.Jack Chegwyn led the first international team to Hong Kong in 1952, and the first tour by an MCC team was in 1966. The MCC, captained by