Cricketing superstars and former rivals Shane Warne, Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath will team up this weekend, hoping to fire an all-star team to victory at the Hong Kong Sixes. The tournament, first held in 1992, produces frenetic cricket in which six-a-side teams bat for only five overs each innings and every fielder has to bowl.
Batsmen retire when they reach 31 runs, and matches last no more than 45 minutes. The all-star squad, which also includes Anil Kumble, Craig McMillan, Geraint Jones and Heath Streak, will compete against nine national sides over two days at the Kowloon Cricket Club, set amid Hong Kong's towering skyscrapers.
Famous for its devil-may-care style and raucous crowds, the Hong Kong Sixes has a record of attracting the world's top players, with Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Flintoff all appearing in past tournaments.
Organisers hope the competition will grow further on the back of the recent success of the short-form Twenty20 game and the massive interest in cricket in south Asia.
Harsh Sabale, an Indian entrepreneur based in Hong Kong, recently bought the rights to the event for eight years and has big ambitions to boost its international appeal. "The Sixes is a lot of fun and it seemed wrong for it not to have a much greater profile," he said. "We hope to promote it as a major television event in the future.
"As cricket gets shorter, Sixes is well placed to deliver dramatic action that is above all fun to play and fun to watch. It produces fantastic entertainment, which is the most important thing.
"Obviously we are very gratified by the string of world-class players who have come to Hong Kong this year to play, and we are also delighted by the level of enthusiasm among the public. "We sold all the tickets within days and the only problem that we have is coping with fans who are desperate to see the cricket but can't get into the ground."
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