England will aim to hit the ground running as they attempt to win a record fifth Hong Kong Cricket Sixes crown this weekend.
Champions in 1993-94 and again in 2003-04, England have been drawn against the India Sixers, Pakistan – also four-time champions – and South Africa in the Bradman Group.
With only the top two teams in each group advancing to the Cup rounds, the action promises to be fast and fierce when the tournament gets underway on Saturday (8 November) at the Kowloon Cricket Club.
“It looks like a tough draw with India, Pakistan and South Africa and it’s going to be interesting to see who gets through,” said England captain Dimitri Mascarenhas.
“Obviously the first game’s going to be all-important. It’s vital to get off to a good start because if you lose the first one you’re going to be struggling.”
The England team is packed with limited overs specialists and have an ace in their pack in the explosive Graham Napier, who hammered an astonishing 152 – including a world record 16 sixes – in an English Twenty20 game last June.
“We’ve got a decent team with a few internationals,” added Mascarenhas. “We’re a fairly young side, we all bat and we all bowl, whereas some of the other teams have specialist batters or bowlers, so we’ve got a good mix.
“And we’ve got Graham – hopefully he’ll be able to knock a few out of the park.”
In the other half of the draw, the awesome-looking All-Stars will face defending champions Sri Lanka, Australia and hosts Hong Kong in the Sobers Group.
The All-Stars team includes Sri Lankan icon Sanath Jayasuriya – scorer of an astonishing 27 hundreds in one day internationals and another 14 centuries in tests.
He is making his first visit to the Sixes since 1993 when he helped Sri Lanka reach the final. “It’s nice to be back, it’s been a long time,” he said.
The big-hitting Jayasuriya is ideally suited to six-a-side cricket and he promised Hong Kong fans he would be going all out to entertain.
“I always try to play my natural game and I’ll be doing my best. We’ve got some very good players in our team and I’m looking forward to getting out there and playing,” he added.
Joining Jayasuriya in a world class All-Stars batting line-up will be West Indies run machine Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the current Wisden and International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year, together with Australian great Justin Langer and former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.
The bowling will be shouldered by pace aces Matthew Hoggard of England and Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka plus South African allrounder Tyron Henderson, the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 cricket worldwide.
The All-Stars face a first-day group showdown with Sri Lanka, who have returned to Hong Kong with four of the team that triumphed in the Sixes last year.
“It’s good to be back and we’re looking forward to the tournament,” said Jeevantha Kulatunga, one of the quartet.
“We enjoyed winning last year and it was a fantastic moment for us. We played some really good cricket throughout the tournament but we never thought about winning it, we just took it match by match.
“We’re confident this time, but we’ve got a slightly different team. Of course, the All-Stars are a really good team but it’s going to be tough against any opponent.
“It’s the shortest version of the game and anything can happen, so we’ll just be aiming to do our best.”
The action starts at 8:20am on Saturday with group games throughout the day. Sunday will see matches in the Cup and Plate.
Gates will open at 8am on both days of the tournament and a small number of tickets will be on sale on Saturday morning.
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