Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Hong Kong Cricket Sixes

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Countries
  
Hong Kong

First tournament
  
1992

Format
  
Six-a-side

Last tournament
  
2012

Administrator
  
International Cricket Council

Tournament format
  
Double round-robin and Knockout

The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is an annual international cricket tournament held at the Kowloon Cricket Club comprising between eight and twelve teams. Organised by Cricket Hong Kong, it is sanctioned by the International Cricket Council. The tournament is designed for television viewing, with rules and a venue that encourage aggressive batting and high scoring. Because every player (except the wicket-keeper) is required to bowl one over, the format suits all-rounders.

Contents

History

South Africa won the 2006 after downing four-time champions Pakistan.

In 2007, Sri Lanka defeated an All-Stars team (featuring players such as Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Shane Warne) to take the title.

The All-Stars returned for the 2008 event with West Indies batting great Brian Lara and New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming as members. They joined nine representative international teams in the tournament – defending champions Sri Lanka, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and hosts Hong Kong.

The 2009 tournament, held from 31 October to 1 November, saw eight teams competing, with South Africa defeating Hong Kong in the final.

In 2011, the Hong Kong Cricket Association was awarded HK$3.5 million by the Hong Kong SAR government's Mega Event Fund (MEF) to organise the event, with added sponsorship from the KARP Group. To comply with the Mega Events Fund's objectives of promoting Hong Kong as an events capital in Asia, some changes were made to the format. These included expanding the tournament from two to three days, with tournament play starting on the Friday of the event weekend. The field was also increased from 8 to 12 teams with the addition of three more national teams and an invitational squad of international players.

The HKCA did not make another MEF application in 2012 due to time constraints, preferring instead to rely on a smaller grant through the government's ‘M’ Mark scheme. This resulted in a downscaled tournament played over two days on 27-28 October with eight teams (excluding the All-Stars side).

In 2013, the Hong Kong Cricket Association's applications for MEF contributions (at first HK$10 million then revised to HK$5 million) were turned down, leaving it with a budget of HK$1 million from the M-Mark scheme to organise the tournament. The association felt that a further HK$500,000 to HK$1 million would be needed to organise the tournament and cancelled it after not securing private sponsorship.

Match rules

The Laws of Cricket apply, except:

  • Games are played between two teams of six players, and each game consists of a maximum of five six-ball overs bowled by each side (eight-ball overs in the final match).
  • Each member of the fielding side bowls one over, with the exception of the wicket-keeper.
  • Wides and no-balls count as two runs.
  • If five wickets fall before 5 overs are completed, the last remaining batsman bats on with the fifth batsman acting as a runner. He always takes strike. The innings is complete when the sixth wicket falls.
  • Batsmen retire not out on reaching 31 runs. The idea being to reach 36 runs by hitting 6 sixes. A retired batsman can return to the crease after lower-order batsmen either retire or are out.
  • A tournament points system awards two points for each match won.

    • References

    Hong Kong Cricket Sixes Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA