2024 Hong Kong Cricket Sixes | Sri Lanka, The CHAMPIONS

Hello, fellow Cricket Enthusiasts,

Today was a good day for Sri Lankan Cricket fans as we lifted the Hong Kong Sixes Cricket Trophy for the second time! In the finals, we defeated Pakistan by 03 wickets with 06 balls remaining.

Congratulations the Lions, and let's see an overview of this exciting tournament.

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Watching this tournament took me to my childhood as it was on my watchlist, every year. The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is a six-a-side international cricket tournament organized by Cricket Hong Kong, under the International Cricket Council. This tournament was started in 1992 and scheduled each year. But there were some pauses and the last edition was in 2017. Earlier we had only 05 overs, and this year it was increased to 06 overs. Without the keeper all the other ballers have to ball, one getting two overs. This year all the matches were held at the Mission Road Ground in Mong Kok, Hong Kong.

So, as you can see this shorter format is purely organized for entertainment. By using shorter boundaries, we often see big-hitting and high-scoring matches. Ballers are hammered most of the time, and even hitting 06 sixes in the over, is not such a big deal.

And with the unpredictability in the conventional format, here there can be any result, with big teams also getting smashed. Anyway, the Pakistan team stands out as the most successful in the tournament's history, having five championships and six runner-up finishes. England and South Africa have each claimed five titles as well, while Sri Lanka has won twice. Australia, India, and the West Indies have each secured one championship.

Group Stage

As you see, 12 teams were competing in 04 groups of 03 teams, under the Round-robin format. Then the top 02 teams of each group are qualified for the quarter finals. And the last 04 teams are playing for the Bowl finals. Quarter-final winners are moved to the semis finals, and its winners to the finals. Four-quarter-final losers are playing for the Plate Finals

As you can see in the below table of final standings, the big Cricket names like India, England, and New Zealand were in the last positions. India couldn't even win a single match.

You know? There's a strange rule in the tournament. When a batter hits 50 runs he has to return to the dugout, not out, and a new batsman comes. Earlier this was just 30 runs. If all the other batsmen got out, that retired player could come to bat. And a single player can play after losing all the other 05 wickets.

Final standings

We saw some pretty high-scoring and close encounters as well. In a group stage match, the United Arab Emirates won the match by just 01-run against India defending 130 runs. In the Plate Final South Africa won it by just 01 run defeating the United Arab Emirates. The highest team total was Oman scoring 159/0 scoring against England. Vinayak Shukla and Hassnain Shah scored 51* runs off 10 balls.

In the semi-final 01, Pakistan defeated Australia by just 04 wickets, with just one ball remaining chasing 107 runs. In the other Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets, defeating Bangladesh in the last over. Tharindu Ratnayaka took 04 wickets and Sandun Weerakkodi scored a fifty.

So, it was a final between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Sri Lanka opted to ball first, and it was a good effort from the ballers. Dhananjaya Lakshan took 02 wickets in the first over for just 06 runs, and Tharindu Rathnayake helped him with another 02. Pakistan was all out for just 72 runs in 5.2 overs. Anyway, Pakistan had a good balling line up, to challenge this. Shahab Khan, particularly on the spot gave only 12 runs in his 02 overs. But SL players got the chance from the other ballers and won the match by 03 wickets and an over remaining.

Tharindu Rathnayake of Sri Lanka was the leading wicket-taker(08) and the player of the series. Vinayak Shukla of Oman was the Top Run Scorer(275).

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So, once again! It was a great victory for us and Congratulations!

So, that's it for today!! Until the next time! Enjoy!

Thank you.
Best Regards!