What is Hong Kong Cricket Sixes? Tournament format explained

The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes 2024 will be played from November 1 to November 3 in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is a fast-paced format of cricket introduced in 1992 and hosted by Hong Kong Cricket. Famous for its unique offering of power hitting the tournament quickly gained popularity, but was discontinued in the year 2017.

Now after a seven-year break, the tournament is set to comeback with the 2024 edition.

Hong Kong Cricket Sixes format:

The format of Hong Kong Cricket Sixes format is shorter than the traditional international cricket. Unlike traditional cricket, where each team fields 11 players, the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes tournament is played with teams of just six players in an exciting six-over format.

Games are played on much smaller grounds, to help teams post big scores with smaller boundaries. The smaller ground allows spectators to witness fluent power hitting, enhancing the popularity of the competition. Only one bowler will be allowed to bowl a maximum of two overs.

The competition format is a round robin followed by knockout stages.

Hong Kong Cricket Sixes 2024 to start on November 1

The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes 2024 will see 12 teams take part in the prestigious tournament. These 12 teams are India, Pakistan, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman and Bangladesh. The tournament will be played from November 1-3 at the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

These teams are divided into four pools as follows:

Pool A: South Africa, New Zealand and Hong Kong

Pool B: Australia, England and Nepal

Pool C: India, Pakistan and UAE

Pool D: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Oman.

The tournament will see these teams compete against each other in the round-robin format, which will be followed by a knockout phase to crown the winners.

Hong Kong Cricket Sixes rules:

General: Each game features two teams of six players, and each side bowls a maximum of six overs of six balls each. Only one player is allowed to bowl two overs (but not consecutively), while the other four bowlers each deliver one over. Wides and no-balls add one run to the batting side’s total and result in an additional delivery.

Last Man Stands: If a team loses five wickets before completing six overs, the last remaining batter continues to bat, with the fifth dismissed player acting only as a runner. The last batter must always take strike and is automatically out if the runner is declared out (through run out or obstruction). The inning concludes once the sixth wicket falls.

Batter Retiring: A batter must retire ‘not out’ on reaching a personal score of 50 runs but may not retire before reaching 50 runs. The batter may complete all runs possible off the stroke that takes him to 50 and the full score shall count. If one of the last pair of batters is out, any retired ‘not out’ batter may resume his innings.

If more than one batter retires, then they must return in the order in which they retired.

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