Alexander Niall French (born 1 December 1980) is a Hong Kong

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who has played two

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s and nine

ICC Trophy The Cricket World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the qualification pro ...

matches for

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. French made his debut aged 16 at the

1997 ICC Trophy The Carlsberg 1997 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 24 March and 13 April 1997. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Bangladesh were the winners of the ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, and played four matches, scoring 22 runs with a highest score of 13 in the debut match against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Despite having the third-worst batting average of the entire team — only ahead of Steven Foster and specialist bowler Mohamed Zubair — French was also in the squad for the

2001 ICC Trophy The 2001 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Ontario, Canada in 2001. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Three spots in the World Cup were on offer and the Netherlands, host nation Cana ...

, where he managed to contribute even less. In four innings, he compiled five runs, although his

off break Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

s also yielded three wickets — all falling in losing causes. French's batting average of 1.25 in the tournament was now the second-worst, although three wickets was the fifth-best of the team. Though his batting performances thus far had been less than impressive, French was retained for the

2004 Asia Cup The eighth edition of cricket's Asia Cup (also called Indian Oil Asia Cup) was held in Sri Lanka after a gap of 4 years. Sri Lanka beat India in the final to win the cup. The 4 test playing Asian nations participated in the tournament along with ...

, and was even chosen to bat at number three, usually the position occupied by the best batsman. He made double figure scores against both

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, but it was not enough to stay in the team for the

2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup The 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup was the second edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, a cricket competition for (then) 12 nations from Asia, Africa, North America and Europe. All the games were scheduled for three days and were designated ...

. French has also played for Cardiff UCCE, Glamorgan's Second XI, and Wales Minor Counties.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:French, Alexander Hong Kong One Day International cricketers 21st-century Hong Kong sportsmen Hong Kong cricketers 1980 births Living people Wales National County cricketers