Aftab Habib and Hong Kong aim high

Sometimes the only way you can go from rock bottom is even farther down, yet it can be the making of you. Nine years ago, when Aftab Habib played his two Tests for England against New Zealand, he was part of a side that was about to slump to ninth place out of nine in the Test world rankings. Now, the former Leicestershire batsman is a coach in charge of the 25th best one-day side in the world, but it is a starting point for a career in coaching that he hopes will be highly successful.

Habib's Hong Kong side play Italy tomorrow on the first day of the ICC's World Cricket League Division Four at the Dar-es-Salaam University Ground in Tanzania. It is the latest stage in the road to the 2011 World Cup, which began earlier this year in Jersey when the host nation and Afghanistan progressed from Division Five.

The top two teams from Division Four, which also features Fiji and Tanzania, will compete in January in Division Three against Argentina, Uganda, the Cayman Islands and Papua New Guinea and so on until four sides are selected to compete in the World Cup on the Asian sub-continent.

Habib isn't getting ahead of himself, but his Hong Kong side, most of whom were born in Pakistan but schooled in the former British colony, should be the strongest side in the division. They were relegated from Division Three last year but have been impressive since Habib took the reins, winning the Asian Cricket Council Trophy for the first time this year (a biennial tournament won twice by Bangladesh and then, since they were given Test status in 2000, by the United Arab Emirates on each occasion until this year) and beating Fiji and Tanzania in warm-up matches for this league.

"We're in pretty good shape and I think some big things can happen," Habib said. "We had a pre-season tour in Sri Lanka and played some tough cricket there that showed the standard we should be playing at." Although they lost all four matches against a Sri Lanka Development XI, the fourth was lost by only 16 runs with one of the Hong Kong XI unable to bat.

The key to doing well in Tanzania will be to deal with the fairly ropey conditions. "The University ground looks the best but I'm not sure about the other two we play on," Habib said. "You have to bear in mind that Tanzania don't play a lot of cricket and the wickets will be quite slow and low."

Habib says that his main aim is to make his side professional in attitude, even if they remain amateurs. "They've got work commitments and training every day is quite hard but there is a big opportunity for these guys if they want to make it," he said. "I want them to show me they are professional in the way they work and analyse the game. They are slowly learning the trade and I reckon three of them could cut it in county cricket."

Only Zain Abbas, a 22-year-old batsman who has played for Aston-on-Trent in the Derbyshire league for the past four seasons, has played in Britain but Habib said that he was keen to arrange for some of his side to gain the experience of different conditions over here. Among the names to follow are Tubarak Hussain Dar, the 32-year-old captain (pictured with Habib), Nadeem Ahmed, a slow left-arm bowler who took four for 51 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup this year, and Butt Khalid Hussain, who made 219 in 191 balls against the UAE in 2006.

Habib, 36, who was born in Reading and averaged 42 over his 14-year first-class career with Leicestershire and Essex, decided to become a coach when playing and coaching during the winter months in New Zealand. "I loved doing it and decided that was where my future lay," he said.

His ambitions are lofty. "I have a three-year contract with Hong Kong but would love to come back home one day and become the first British-Asian county coach," he said. "It is great that there are so many young British-Asian players coming through — with four or five in the England set-up. I'd like to see if I can have the same success as a coach."