Hong Kong Sixes is a well renowned event (Photo by Power Sport Images/Getty Images)
Getty Images
It was once derided by a prominent reporter as a “food and wine festival”, a novelty in a far-flung locale where legend has it a famous Australian cricketer ploughed through one day’s play nursing a rather nasty hangover.
To no one’s surprise, the Hong Kong Sixes – a truncated variant of cricket that was first played in 1992 – was seen as a lark, a chance for players to let their hair down in the glitzy East Asia locale, where cricket has roots due to once being a colony of the British Empire.
The fast-paced format boasts just six players per side – a cricket team traditionally has 11. The 55-minute game consists of six overs each – having previously been five overs a side – ensuring plenty of entertainment for the cricket-starved, rowdy expats amid the historical surrounds of the Kowloon Cricket Club, a remnant of the British.
Hong Kong Sixes has had strong crowd support (Photo by Jonathan Wong/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)
South China Morning Post via Getty Images
As the T20 and even T10 leagues sprouted around the world, the gimmick wore off after its 1990s and 2000s heyday before being revived last year.
Hoping to again cement itself in an increasingly cramped cricket calendar, the Sixes returned on Friday in a three-day event that boasts major countries – including India who don’t have permission from their strict governing body but features recently retired players.
Ravichandran Ashwin, the legendary Indian spinner who is now on the franchise league circuit, was a high-profile signing but had to withdraw due to injury.
In what is a rebrand for the Sixes, the tournament has grown to include Associates, smaller cricket nations who receive less funding, playing opportunities and power than the 12 Full Members.
Organizers want the 12-team tournament, which is sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, to provide rare development opportunities for these countries. It also helps provide some gravitas for Sixes, shedding its previous frivolous standing.
Hong Kong, UAE, Nepal, Kuwait and Nepal are the Associate nations in this event.
“I don’t think there’s any other tournament where an Associate member country would get a chance to play with the likes of India, Australia, England and South Africa,” Anurag Bhatnagar, a senior administrator of Cricket Hong Kong, told me.
“This format provides that. It’s a great event. It’s about cricket development. It’s about having fun playing cricket.
“The idea is giving players from Associate member countries, the exposure to big-name cricket.”
Hong Kong boasts a prominent cricket competition (Photo by K. Y. Cheng/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)
South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Hong Kong Sixes enjoyed global prominence in its heyday through its flashy television packaging, foreshadowing what was ahead with T20 cricket. “It’s an iconic event because it was played long before the advent of T20 cricket and franchise cricket,” Bhatnagar said.
While the tournament will once again be broadcast around the world, Hong Kong Sixes has received a major boost by receiving special ‘M’ status from the city’s Major Sports Events Committee, injecting vital funds.
“The government wants to promote Hong Kong as a destination for sports in Asia,” Bhatnagar said. “The government support is based on matching funds. So whatever you can raise from sponsorships, the government matches.”
The reawakening of the Sixes means there is no temptation for Hong Kong power brokers to contemplate re-establishing its own T20 franchise league, with the short-lived Blitz – which ran from 2016-18 before folding due to financial issues – remaining a cautionary tale.
“There is a proliferation of T20 franchise all over the world,” Bhatnagar said. “So how do we stand out? Why would people come to Hong Kong as opposed to going to the bigger places?
“Because a T20 league is not an international event, we wouldn’t have the government support and therefore the commerce doesn’t work.”
With nostalgia swirling in the air, its cavalier roots ensuring crowds of 4000 still have a merry time, the Sixes is once again cementing itself as a fixture of the Hong Kong sports scene while furthering the growth of smaller cricket nations.
“We have this unique product, which is the only product of this kind that is actually nation versus nation,” Bhatnagar said. “It’s suited to the shortened attention spans of the younger generation. It appeals to-non traditional cricket markets.
“It’s got stars, it’s high energy. It’s exciting.”