Summary
- The Nepalese cricket team will not participate in this year’s Hong Kong Sixes tournament.
- Paras Khadka, Secretary of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), cited scheduling conflicts between the Nepal Premier League and the Hong Kong Sixes as the reason for not sending a team.
- The tournament is scheduled to take place from October 30 to November 1 at Hong Kong’s Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.
October 12, Kathmandu – The Nepalese cricket team will not be participating in this year’s Hong Kong Sixes cricket tournament.
The organizers released the list of participating teams on Monday, and Nepal’s name was not included. Notably, Scotland is joining the tournament this year.
The competition features squads from Hong Kong, Oman, UAE, Scotland, Australia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, England, and Bangladesh.
The event will run for three days, from October 30 to November 1, at the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Hong Kong, coinciding directly with the Nepal Premier League (NPL) schedule.
This overlap in schedules has resulted in Nepal deciding not to send a team this year. Paras Khadka, Secretary of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), explained that it was challenging to participate given the conflicting dates.
“Since the Hong Kong Sixes is set to be held during our NPL, it has been difficult to send a team,” Khadka said.
Nepal has previously competed in two editions of the Hong Kong Sixes tournament.
The Hong Kong Sixes format consists of matches with only 6 overs per side and each team fields 6 players. The primary goal is to hit sixes on every ball, which is why the tournament is named ‘Sixes.’
The playing field is also comparatively smaller. With only 6 players, aside from the bowler and wicketkeeper, there are just 4 fielders, encouraging the batsmen to aim for big shots every ball.
There is an interesting rule wherein a batsman must retire after reaching 50 runs. They may return to bat only after the last wicket falls. Even if five wickets have fallen, a single batsman can continue and receive running support from the non-striker.
On the bowling side, all players except the wicketkeeper must bowl, with a maximum of 2 overs per bowler.
Teams often include former international players who have retired from mainstream cricket to form a squad comprised of highly skilled batsmen and bowlers, given the six-player format.
