Hong Kong Cricket Sixes Explained

Hong Kong Cricket Sixes
Country: Hong Kong
Administrator:International Cricket Council
Cricket Format:Six-a-side
First:1992
Last:2017
Tournament Format:Round-robin tournament and Knockout
Participants:8
Champions: (5 titles)
Most Successful:
(5 titles each)
Website:Official website
Current:2017 Hong Kong Cricket Sixes

The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is a six-a-side 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.

All editions of the tournament have been held at the Kowloon Cricket Club except for the 1996 and 1997 editions, which were held at the Hong Kong Stadium.[1] [2]

History

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.[3]

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).[4]

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.[5]

On 28 June 2017, Cricket Hong Kong announced that the Hong Kong Sixes would return on 28–29 October following a five-year absence. The event that year took place at the Kowloon Cricket Club.[6]

Match rules

The Laws of Cricket apply, except:

Past winners

Year Winner Runner-up Leading run scorer Leading wicket takers Man of the Tournament
Nizakat Khan (192) Ehsan Khan, Sarel Erwee, Corné Dry (6) Nizakat Khan[8]
Umar Akmal (201) Lyall Meyer (7) Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal (254) Rory Hamilton-Brown, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Akmal (6) Umar Akmal
Ahmed Shehzad (218) Shoaib Malik, Kaushalya Weeraratne (5) Glenn Maxwell
Peter Trego (184) Shoaib Malik (7) Irfan Ahmed
2008 Dimitri Mascarenhas (185) Irfan Ahmed (7) Dimitri Mascarenhas
2007 All Stars Craig McMillan (148) Saman Jayantha (6) Craig McMillan
2006 Robin Singh (129) Sylvester Joseph, Nicky Boje (5) Imran Nazir
2005 Thilina Kandamby (125) Robert Croft (6) Reetinder Sodhi
2004 Ravindu Shah (126) Arshad Ali, Darren Maddy, Dilruwan Perera (5) Hussain Butt
2003 Saman Jayantha (152) Gerald Dros (7) Saman Jayantha
2002 Dene Hills (159) Naved-ul-Hasan, Chris Silverwood (6) Dene Hills
2001 Kaif Ghaury (158) Upul Chandana, Ahmed Nadeem (5) Wasim Akram
1997 Floyd Reifer (133) Matthew Fleming, Ben Hollioake, Mohammad Zubair (6) Zahoor Elahi
1996 Stuart Williams, Derek Crookes, Atul Bedade (123) Ruwan Kalpage (6) Derek Crookes
1995 Jonty Rhodes
1994
1993

Most successful teams

Team Tournaments wonYears wonTournaments runner-upYears runner-up
51993, 1994, 2003, 2004, 200841995, 1997, 2002, 2011
51995, 2006, 2009, 2012,201712001
41997, 2001, 2002, 201152003, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2017
1200721993, 2004
1201021994, 2008
1199612005
1200511996

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2017-09-14. Hong Kong Sixes organisers want to replicate Rugby Sevens success – but they need a bigger venue. 2020-07-15. South China Morning Post. en.
  2. Web site: 1996-06-01. HK: Cricket Sixes switch to HK Stadium (1 Jun 1996). 2020-07-15. ESPN. en.
  3. Web site: Sixes boost . https://web.archive.org/web/20111215063330/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=8&art_id=113680&sid=33236109&con_type=1&d_str=20110802&fc=2. dead. 15 December 2011. TheStandard.com.hk . 2 August 2011. place before
  4. Web site: Hong Kong Sixes down to eight teams because of a shortage of funds . Sallay . Alvin . 18 September 2012 . SCMP.com . 12 February 2017.
  5. Web site: Hong Kong Sixes scrapped due to lack of sponsorship . Sallay . Alvin . 11 September 2013 . SCMP.com . 12 February 2017.
  6. News: HK Sixes back on – 'Maximum entertainment' vowed. 29 June 2017. The Standard (Hong Kong).
  7. Web site: Hong Kong Cricket Sixes Rules & Regulations. hkcricketsixes.com. 26 March 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20080602155122/http://www.hkcricketsixes.com/tournament.html . 2 June 2008. dead.
  8. Web site: Hong Kong Sixes 2017 . 9 March 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180112200144/http://www.hkcricket.org/en/hk-sixes/hong-kong-sixes-2017 . 12 January 2018 . dead .