Ming Li is from Hong Kong and has joined the Sydney Sixers as the club’s community rookie over the summer.
The 24-year-old is no stranger to the Australian league, telling SBS his training routine in Hong Kong included watching Shane Warne videos on Youtube.
“I watched how he turned the ball, the legspin, the control,” Ming said.
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While in Australia Ming will get to train with the Sixers, but is unlikely to play a game.
He first picked up the bat and ball in 2004, before making his debut for the Hong Kong cricket team in 2010 when they toured Papua New Guinea.
Sydney Sixers General Manager Dominic Remond said he hopes Ming’s presence will help the expansion of the game into Australia’s own Chinese community.
“We thought a great way to do that was to have someone who speaks Cantonese on our team, someone that represents that community,” Mr Remond said.
Ming is the first Chinese player to join a Twenty20 Australian team, but not the first Chinese cricketer to make it in the country.
Hunter Poon played first-class cricket in the mid-1900s, while Richard Chee Quee played as recently as 2001 for New South Wales.
