Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes
From Cricipedia
The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is an annual 10-team international cricket tournament held at the Kowloon Cricket Club and fully sanctioned by the International Cricket Council. The tournament is made for television, 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.
The 2008 event will take place from November 8-9 and will see the return of the All-Stars team that in 2007 featured such cricketing luminaries as Brian Lara and Shane Warne. West Indies batting great Shivnarine Chanderpaul and inspirational New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming are the first star players to sign up for the 2008 showpiece event. The All-Stars will join nine representative international teams in the tournament – 2007 champions Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, England, Pakistan, India, South Africa, Bangladesh and hosts Hong Kong.
The first tournament was held in 1992 and, after a four year hiatus, returned in 2001. Over the years the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes has attracted a veritable Who's Who of world cricket, including stars such as Viv Richards, Andrew Flintoff, Sachin Tendulkar, the Waugh brothers ( Steve and Mark), Inzamam-ul-Haq, Adam Gilchrist, Jonty Rhodes and Wasim Akram.
In 2007, Sri Lanka defeated the much-fancied All-Stars team, while in 2006 South Africa beat four-time champions Pakistan.
Match rules The Laws of Cricket apply, except:
Games are played between two teams of six players, and each game consisted 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 wicketkeeper. 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 5th batsman acting as 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 tournament points system awards two points for each match won.
