The Hong Kong Sixes is an international six-a-side cricket tournament held annually in Hong Kong. Organised by Cricket Hong Kong, China and sanctioned by International Cricket Council, it features short-format matches designed to promote fast-paced, high-scoring entertainment for spectators and television audiences.
Each match consists of six overs per side, with one bowler can bowl 2 overs and remaining overs to be shared by four other bowlers one each. The format therefore favors all-rounders and encourages attacking play.
All editions of the tournament have been held at the Kowloon Cricket Club, except for the 1996 and 1997 tournaments which took place at the Hong Kong Stadium, and the 2024 edition, which was hosted at the Mission Road Ground in Kowloon.
History Pakistan is the most successful team of the tournament won 6 titles followed by England and South Africa having won 5 titles each. Sri Lanka won 2 titles and Australia, India and West Indies won one title each. 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. place before
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.
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.
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 six six-ball overs bowled by each side (eight-ball overs in the Final). Each member of the fielding side bowls one over, with the exception of the wicket-keeper who does not bowl, with one player bowling two non-consecutive overs. Wides and no-balls count as the usual extra run to the batting side, plus an extra ball, but there are no free hits for no-balls. If five wickets fall before five 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 50 runs, but 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.
Tournament results Year Winner Runners-up Leading run scorers Leading wicket takers Player of the tournament 1992 1993 Phillip DeFreitas 1994 1995 Jonty Rhodes 1996 Stuart Williams (123) Derek Crookes (123) Atul Bedade (123) Ruwan Kalpage (6) Derek Crookes 1997 Floyd Reifer (133) Matthew Fleming (6) Ben Hollioake (6) Mohammad Zubair (6) Zahoor Elahi 2001 Kaif Ghaury (158) Upul Chandana (5) Ahmed Nadeem (5) Wasim Akram 2002 Dene Hills (159) Naved-ul-Hasan (6) Chris Silverwood (6) Dene Hills 2003 Saman Jayantha (152) Gerald Dros (7) Saman Jayantha 2004 Ravindu Shah (126) Arshad Ali (5) Darren Maddy (5) Dilruwan Perera (5) Hussain Butt 2005 Thilina Kandamby (125) Robert Croft (6) Reetinder Sodhi 2006 Robin Singh (129) Sylvester Joseph (5) Nicky Boje (5) Imran Nazir 2007 All Stars Craig McMillan (148) Saman Jayantha (6) Craig McMillan 2008 Dimitri Mascarenhas (185) Irfan Ahmed (7) Dimitri Mascarenhas 2009 Peter Trego (184) Shoaib Malik (7) Irfan Ahmed 2010 Ahmed Shehzad (218) Shoaib Malik (5) Kaushalya Weeraratne (5) Glenn Maxwell 2011 Umar Akmal (254) Rory Hamilton-Brown (6) Abdul Razzaq (6) Umar Akmal (6) Umar Akmal2012 Umar Akmal (201) Lyall Meyer (7)2017 Nizakat Khan (192) Ehsan Khan (6) Sarel Erwee (6) Corné Dry (6) Nizakat Khan2024 Vinayak Shukla (275) Tharindu Rathnayake (8) Tharindu Rathnayake2025 Sundeep Jora (176) Rashid Khan (9) Abbas Afridi
Most successful teams Team Final Appearances Tournaments won Years won Tournaments runner-up Years runner-up 12 6 1992, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2011, 20256 9 5 41995, 1997, 2002, 2011 6 5 1995, 2006, 2009, 2012, 201712001 4 2 2007, 202421993, 2004 3 1 200521992, 1996 3 1 201021994, 200821199612005All Stars1 - -120071 - -120091 - -12025Total 4221-21-
See also Short form cricket
References
External links Cricket Hong Kong Sixes homepage . Retrieved 12 February 2017