Associates<\/a>, smaller cricket nations who receive less funding, playing opportunities and power than the 12 Full Members. <\/p>\nOrganizers 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. <\/p>\n
Hong Kong, UAE, Nepal, Kuwait and Nepal are the Associate nations in this event. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any other tournament where an Associate member country would get a chance to play with the likes of India, Australia, England and South Africa,\u201d Anurag Bhatnagar, a senior administrator of Cricket Hong Kong, told me. <\/p>\n
“This format provides that. It\u2019s a great event. It\u2019s about cricket development. It\u2019s about having fun playing cricket. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is giving players from Associate member countries, the exposure to big-name cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hong Kong boasts a prominent cricket competition (Photo by K. Y. Cheng\/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
South China Morning Post via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Hong Kong Sixes enjoyed global prominence in its heyday through its flashy television packaging, foreshadowing what was ahead with T20 cricket. \u201cIt\u2019s an iconic event because it was played long before the advent of T20 cricket and franchise cricket,\u201d Bhatnagar said. <\/p>\n
While the tournament will once again be broadcast around the world, Hong Kong Sixes has received a major boost by receiving special \u2018M\u2019 status from the city\u2019s Major Sports Events Committee, injecting vital funds. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe government wants to promote Hong Kong as a destination for sports in Asia,\u201d Bhatnagar said. \u201cThe government support is based on matching funds. So whatever you can raise from sponsorships, the government matches.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a proliferation of T20 franchise all over the world,\u201d Bhatnagar said. “So how do we stand out? Why would people come to Hong Kong as opposed to going to the bigger places? <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause a T20 league is not an international event, we wouldn\u2019t have the government support and therefore the commerce doesn\u2019t work.\u201d <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have this unique product, which is the only product of this kind that is actually nation versus nation,\u201d Bhatnagar said. \u201cIt\u2019s suited to the shortened attention spans of the younger generation. It appeals to-non traditional cricket markets. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got stars, it\u2019s high energy. It\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hong Kong Sixes is a well renowned event (Photo by Power Sport Images\/Getty Images) Getty Images It was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-268668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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