Jofra Archer pulls out of the Hong Kong T20 Blitz

The third edition of the Hong Kong T20 Blitz will kick-start from February 6 and will see five teams in the competition. After a successful tournament in 2017, the cricket league is set to be back this year. The tournament will be conducted over a duration of six days at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Mong Kok. The finals of the tournament will be conducted on the 11th of February.

Also, this year each team is permitted to have six overseas players. Out of these six, five of them can take the field. The remainder of the squad of 16 will be picked from Hong Kong’s best domestic talent. This edition will also feature some veteran players like Darren Sammy, Kumar Sangakkara, Ravi Bopara and many others.

Galaxy Gladiators Lantau name Jofra Archer’s replacement

Jofra Archer was one of the top performers of the Big Bash League this year and also ended up being the joint second-highest wicket taker. He also got a massive IPL deal when the Rajasthan Royals picked him at 18 times his base price. He was slated to play in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz tournament and would have been a great attraction had he played.

But unfortunately, Jofra Archer decided to pull out of the tournament earlier today. Former CEO of Hong Kong cricket, Tim Cutler confirmed this news on his Twitter handle. Also, he said that the Galaxy Gladiators Lantau announced Anton Devcich as his replacement.

Devcich is a Kiwi cricketer who bats left-handed batsman and also occasionally bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He represented New Zealand in four T20Is and had scored 111 runs at an average of 27.75. Moreover, he managed to pick two wickets in those four games. He has some good T20 experience under his belt and played in 97 games so far. He scored over 2000 runs and picked 60 wickets in all the T20 games he played so far.

Also, Cutler informed that City Kaitak’s Jamie Atkinson will be available for all matches after originally being available only for the weekend games.

#BREAKING #HKT20Blitz news:

1 Jofra Archer has withdrawn from the event and is replaced by Anton Devcich for Galaxy Gladiators Lantau.

2 City Kaitak's Jamie Atkinson available for all matches after originally only being available for the w/e.#D11 #Dream11 #FantasyCricket pic.twitter.com/dLrONfyYUf

— Tim Cutler (@timcutler) February 5, 2018