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South Africa Win Hong Kong Sixes

The Hong Kong Sixes came down to the last ball of the final, with South Africa edging Pakistan in a thrilling final at Kowloon Cricket Club.

Captain Aubrey Swanepoel won it for his team by hitting the very last ball for a four in the closest and most competitive game over the tournament weekend. The South African squad made the final after defeating New Zealand Kiwis by 18 runs.

This win is South Africa’s fifth victory in 18 editions of the tournament, having held aloft the trophy in 1995, 2006, 2009, 2012, the last time Hong Kong World Sixes was held. It joins England and Pakistan as a five-time winner of this popular event.

Ecstatic with the team’s performance this week, 28-year-old Swanepoel said: “As a cricketer growing up, this is what you dream of, in a tournament like this, to hit the winning run. I have the best team possible here with me, and if it wasn’t for my team, I wouldn’t have been in that situation.”

“Cricket in Hong Kong is growing, it has a bright future. People in Hong Kong want to see all the best teams come to play in this tournament. This event is only get better, and hopefully more teams will get involved. We have a young team, and we are looking forward to hopefully come back next year.” added Swanepoel.

Hong Kong, led by Babar Hayat, gave home fans plenty of cheer about after an inspiring run to win the Plate competition. Following Saturday’s round robin effort of one win and two losses, which put the team into the plate tournament, the local squad came through against the Marylebone Cricket Club with a five-run victory in the final. Nizakat Khan also took out the Ben Hollioake award for the player of the tournament.

Hayat, who narrowly missed out on winning player of the tournament in the 2012 event, commented: “Yesterday didn’t quite go according to plan but in the third game yesterday and today, we were outstanding with the ball and the bat, which was pleasing, and that was why we were able to win the Plate. We hadn’t play sixes for a very long time so it was always going to be tough but once you get going, you can always get some momentum going, which helped. It is a pleasing thing to play in front of a home crowd, with people cheering for you, supporting you. I hope we can play the sixes every year.”

Cricket Hong Kong Director Jonathan Cummings commented: “The two days of the tournament have been amazing. We couldn’t have wished for it to go any better, the weather, the cricket, the fans, and to have the result of the last ball is what makes sixes cricket so exciting. Getting South Africa and Pakistan in the final was great as we knew we would have a humdinger of a final, and to see Hong Kong winning the Plate Championship is fantastic. The event will 100% be back next year. Getting the event back was the first step. The crowds have loved it, the teams have loved it, and the tournament will be back even bigger next time.

What Are the Cricket Sixes?

The Sixes started in 1992 but it’s been five years since the last tournament, so here’s a brief guide to what’s going on!

It’s just like traditional cricket and all the the regular laws of game apply except that each match only takes around 45 minutes to complete.

Why? As the name suggests the game is six players per side compared with the usual 11, which means once the bowler and wicket-keeper are in position there aren’t many fieldsmen that the batting team need to evade to hit lots of ball to an over the boundaries.

Each team faces five overs each, and everyone (except for the wicketkeeper) is required to bowl one over each.

Batsmen are forced to retire at 31, but can come back in once all other batsmen have been dismissed or have retired. This can make for some interesting situations at the end of the innings with the lower-order taking risky singles knowing that if they are out, their in-form batsman can come back in.

This year at the Hong Kong World Sixes, seven international teams plus hosts Hong Kong will play 23 matches over just two days. The eight teams are split into two groups, with the results determining the seeding positions for the second day.

Finals day includes four quarter-finals, with the four losers heading into the plate tournament, while the remaining four teams compete for the major title.

South Africa are the defending champions from 2012 and they will face Hong Kong in the opening game at 8am on Saturday morning. For the full schedule of game times click here.

Hong Kong will be captained by Babar Hayat, who missed out by one vote on winning the player of the tournament award in 2012.

The squad also contains fellow big-hitters Nizakat Khan and Jamie Atkinson, who also experience in the Sixes format.

Hong Kong Squad:
Babar Hayat (Captain), Nizakat Khan, Aizaz Khan, Ehsan Khan, Ehsan Nawaz, Jamie Atkinson, Tanveer Ahmed.

HK Cricket Sixes
Date: 28-29 October, 2017
Venue: Kowloon Cricket Club
Tickets: $2,400, $1,300, $1,000, $700, $600, $350 from Ticketflap

Additional reporting and images: HK cricket

Afghanistan Humble Hong Kong Inside Two Days

Afghanistan thrashed Hong Kong by an innings and 173 runs inside two days as the hosts who went into the match confident of giving the Afghans a game were humbled.

Afghanistan Captain Ashgar Stanikzai (58*) and Rahmat Shah (34*) resumed at the crease with Afghanistan already holding a 128 run lead going into the second days play (270-2). Stanikzai bought up an excellent century with another towering 6 over the leg side as Hong Kong were made to pay dearly in dropping him the evening before.

Shah also made his way through to a well compiled 50 as the lead grew past 200. Ehsan Khan made the breakthrough with Shah being well caught at long off by Waqas Khan for 57 (363-3). Nizakat Khan was bought on to bowl and had instant success with Stanikzai being well caught by Anshuman Rath for 125 off 129 balls (367-4).

Mohammad Nabi and Nasir Jamal set out after the lunch break with positive intent with Nabi in particular taking full value of the short straight boundaries in bringing up a superb half century off just 39 balls including five 6s.

Nabi fell for 63 off 44 balls with Kyle Christie picking up his first wicket of the innings and with that the declaration came with Afghanistan finishing on 465-5 (lead of 323 on first innings).

Matt Stiller and Chris Carter returned to the crease with Hong Kong 323 behind on first innings and 57 overs left in the day. Dawlat Zadran got Afghanistan off to the best possible start by dismissing Carter first ball of the innings.

Dawlat proceeded to bowl with hostility and pace and was rewarded with the wicket of Hong Kong captain Babar Hayat (18) courtesy of a top edged pull to Nasir Jamal at mid-wicket. Stiller moments after being struck two painful blows by Zadran became Rashid Khan’s firstwicket of the innings stumped for 4. Nizakat Khan Retired hurt on 10 after a blow to his hand fending off another fast short pitched delivery from the rampaging Zadran and at this point Hong Kong were teetering on 39-3. Rath and Waqas Khan guided Hong Kong through to Tea with no further loss finishing on 56-3 a deficit of 267.

Nabi removed Waqas Khan immediately after tea and Rashid Khan once again came to the fore dismissing the returning Nizakat Khan lbw for 26. (88-5). Anshuman Rath continued to bat with maturity and fought hard against the Afghanistan spin attack whilst wickets continued to tumble at the other end.

Rath bought up a deserved half century and remained undefeated on 59 when Kyle Christie became the last wicket to fall. Hong Kong were bowled out in their second innings for 150 and Afghanistan were comprehensive winners by an innings and 173 runs.

Rashid Khan (AFG) was declared as Man of the Match for his figures of 5-65 and 2-45.

Afghanistan 465 for 5 dec (Stanikzai 125, Ahmadi 108) beat Hong Kong 142 (Hayat 39, Rashid 5-65) & 150 (Rath 59*, Zahir 4-16) by an innings and 173 runs.

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket

Afghanistan Dominate Day 1 in Mong Kok

Afghanistan dominated the first days play of the four day ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Tin Kwong Road dismissing Hong Kong for 142 and ending the day 128 runs ahead with 8 wickets in hand.

Hong Kong captain Babar Hayat won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket that looked easy paced and good for batting. Kyle Christie and Haroon Arshad made their debut in the competition and received their cap from Head Coach Simon Cook before the start of play.

Stiller and Carter opened the batting for Hong Kong with Stiller the first to go caught behind by Zazai off Dawlat Zadran for 6 leaving the hosts 21-1. Carter and Hayat set out to rebuild the innings and Carter looked solid whilst playing some elegant strokes through the offside. Rashid Khan entered the attack and made the second breakthrough with Carter being trapped lbw for 21 (41-2).

Hayat and Nizakat Khan put together a 43 run partnership with Hayat showing his intent by launching 2 huge sixes off Rashid that landed in the nearby housing estate and police station. Rashid wasn’t to be outdone and came back well to remove Hayat lbw for 39 (84-3). The Hong Kong middle order then succumbed to some excellent spin bowling from Rashid and Nabi. 84-3 soon became 97-7 and Hong Kong had lost all of their earlier momentum. Waqas Khan and Waqas Barkat fought hard to try and bring some respectability to the score with both players making 23. Kyle Christie was last man out for 2 as Hong Kong crumbled to a dismal 142 all out in just 47 overs. Rashid Khan (5-65) and Dawlat Zadran (3-15) were the standout bowlers for Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s opening pair of Ahmadi and Ihsanullah strode out to the middle and from the offset and made their intent known with some excellent strokes through the offside. Hayat tried different bowling combinations but all to no avail as the 50 and 100 partnership were bought up with boundaries flowing down the ground and through the offside field. Ihsanullah and Ahmadi both bought up their half centuries before Ihsanullah was caught by the captain Hayat off the bowling of Rath for a well-made 63 (124-1). The hard hitting Shah arrived at the crease and set his stall out by striking two 6s in his first 5 balls. Afghanistan passed Hong Kong’s first innings of 142 with 9 wickets in hand and were well set going into the final hour of play on Day 1.

Javed Ahmadi went on to make an excellent century and was unfortunate to become the second wicket of the innings when Kyle Christie managed to get a finger end on one off his own bowling which left Ahmadi short of his ground at the non-strikers crease for a well-made 108 off 113 balls (203-2). Afghanistan captain Ashgar Stanikzai ended day 1 with a flourish and made his way to an aggressive 38 ball half century. Hong Kong will be frustrated with 2-3 dropped catches late in the day, a day which went perfectly for the visitors as they closed on 270-2 with Stanikzai 58 and Shah 34 the not out batsmen.

Hong Kong v Afghanistan – 4 Day Game
Date: 20-23 October, 2017
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: Free

Additional reporting/images: HK Cricket

Hong Kong Sixes Match Schedule

Hong Kong will take on South Africa in the opening match of the Hong Kong World Sixes as the playing pools and schedule were announced for the tournament which takes place on 28-29 October, 2017.

South Africa, who won the event when it was last held in 2012, the Marylebone Cricket Club and five-time champions Pakistan join Hong Kong in Group A.

Group B kicks off with Sri Lanka up against Bangladesh, with New Zealand Kiwis and Australia the other two teams who will vie for top seeding on finals day.

The fastest paced cricket tournament in the world will see all 12 group matches played on Saturday, with all finals of both the Cup and Plate championships played out on Sunday.

Sunday’s fixture list also includes an exhibition match to kick off day two, with the Hong Kong Women’s Team facing off against the Hong Kong Dragons

“Seeding teams for this event has been particularly difficult with many unknown factors. As expected most teams are stacked with young talented guys sent to hone their skills. The MCC and NZ Kiwis add a balance to that equation so the draw has allowed for five-time champions Pakistan to play MCC and for Australia to play New Zealand Kiwis as the last 2 matches in an intriguing finale to the packed 12 match schedule on the first day,” said Tournament Director Glyn Davies.

“Anything can happen in Sixes cricket and Sri Lanka, a traditional crowd favourite, along with Hong Kong have always had an influence in every event to date so anyone can win.”

Play commences at 8am each day with the final on Sunday scheduled to start at 4.15pm local time and will be an eight over a side match. All other games outside the Plate final (6 overs) will be five overs each team.

HK Sixes 2017: Pools and Draw

October 28 Group Stage
Time	Game	Pool
0800-0845	HKG v RSA	A
0845-0930	BAN v SRL	B
0930-1015	PAK v HKG	A
1015-1100	AUS v SRL	B
1100-1145	MCC v RSA	A
1145-1230	NZK v BAN	B
1230-1315	HKG v MCC	A
1315-1400	NZK v SRL	B
1400-1445	RSA v PAK	A
1445-1530	BAN v AUS	B
1530-1615	MCC v PAK	A
1615- 1700	NZK v AUS	B

October 29 Finals day
0800-0845	HKW v Dragons
0845-0930	1 v 8
0930-1015	2 v 7
1015-1100	3 v 6
1100-1145	4 v 5
1145-1230	Cup Semi 1
1230-1315	Plate Semi 1
1315-1400	Cup Semi 2
1400-1445	Plate Semi 2
1445-1530	3rd Place playoff
1530-1615	Plate final	6 overs
1615- 1700	Cup Final	8 overs

Hong Kong Beat Nepal by 83 Runs in First ODI

Hong Kong bowlers Aizaz Khan and Ehsan Khan ran through Nepal’s batting order to thrash them by 83 runs in the first ODI as part of the World Cricket League Championships in Mong Kok. The duo shared eight wickets between them as offspinner Ehsan finished with his List A career-best figures of 5 for 17.

Hong Kong, put in to bat first, lost their opener Anshuman Rath for a duck in the fourth over. At the other end Jamie Atkinson was more successful, carrying his team past 100 even despite regular blows. His lone hand was not enough to carry them past 200 though; Hong Kong slipped from 3 for 108 to 194 all out, with Atkinson top-scoring with his 76.

In their chase, Nepal lost wickets regularly as medium-pacer Aizaz dismissed three of the top-four batsmen, while Ehsan worked through the rest, dismantling Nepal for 111.

Additional reporting: cricinfo

HK Women’s Squad for India Tour and T20 World Cup Qualifier

Following on from the recent success in the East Asia Cup the HK Cricket selection panel has selected a 14 player squad for the upcoming Pre Tour to India and ICC World T20 Asia Region Qualifiers.

The team will spend 6 days in India then fly directly to Bangkok for their T20 Asia Region Qualifiers.

“This was a tough selection process for the Panel with some talented players missing out, but we’re confident we have selected a balanced side that has the potential to go on and win the tournament.”

“The goals that we had set was to win the East Asia Cup and our regional WT20 Qualifiers. The belief is there within the squad that we can go on and complete what we have set out to do.”

The team again will be under the Leadership of Mariko Hill. Which shows one change from the East Asia Squad. Keenu Gill is unavailable because of work commitments, and sees Marina Lamplough return to the squad.

“Marina has got an excellent chance to again stake her claim to be back in the starting 11. She knows that over the next 4 weeks she will need to put in the hard yards.”

Lemon Cheung has been added to the Pre Tour to India to let her gain vital experience for futures tours.

Tour to India: 12-18 November, 2017

Mariko Hill, Captain, (HKCC), Kary Chan, Vice Captain, (CCC), Yasmin Daswani, (HKCC), Pull To, (CCC), Shanzeen Shahzad, (DSLW), Jenefer Davies (KCC), Natural Yip (HKCC), Annie Ho (HKCC), Bella Poon (KCC), Chan Sau Ha (HKCC), Marina Lamplough (HKCC), Emma Lai (HKCC), Ruchi Venketesh (HKCC), Lemon Cheung (HKCC)

World T20 Asia Region Qualifiers: 18-28 November, 2017

Teams Confirmed For Hong Kong World Sixes

The list of nations competing in the Hong Kong World Sixes has been finalised with Pakistan and New Zealand Kiwis announced as the teams joining hosts Hong Kong, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at the KCC on 28-29 October.

Pakistan are three-time winners of the competition, while the New Zealand Kiwis will be a select team captained by Peter Fulton and include a number of recently retired stars from the Black Caps.

“We’re really pleased to have teams competing from seven full [test] members,” CHK Director Jonathan Cummings said. “Delighted to have Pakistan returning to the tournament – they’ve always been traditionally very strong at the Sixes format and provide great entertainment.”

“The New Zealand Kiwis have got some great names coming which will soon be announced and they’ll be a force as well. The quality of the cricket is going to fantastic and it’s all shaping as a great event.”

HK Cricket Sixes
Date: 28-29 October, 2017
Venue: Kowloon Cricket Club
Tickets: $2,400, $1,300, $1,000, $700, $600, $350 from Ticketflap