MEDIA
RELEASE
ENGLAND EARN REVENGE OVER PAKISTAN AT 2003 CATHAY PACIFIC/STANDARD
CHARTERED HONG KONG CRICKET SIXES
The England players savour the spoils of victory at the 2003 Cathay Pacific / Standard Chartered Cricket Sixes
© World Sport Group |
HONG KONG, November 2: Toppling their traditional
Hong Kong rivals, England claimed the US$260,000 Cathay Pacific/Standard
Chartered
Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes with a comfortable 21-run
victory over Pakistan in the Cup final at the Kowloon Cricket
Club today.
The English, who were tackling the defending
champions in the final match for the third time in the last four
Cathay Pacific/Standard
Chartered Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes events, added
the victory to triumphs in 1993 and 1994 - and earned some
measure of revenge for their defeat at the hands of Pakistan
in last year's showpiece game.
Another magnificent autumn day shone on the
picturesque oval in the heart of Hong Kong's famed Kowloon peninsula and
saw England race to 86/0 from their allotted five overs, thanks
in large part to openers Robert Croft, the one-time frontline
Test spinner, and Kabir Ali, each bludgeoning innings of 31 before
retiring. Skipper Matthew Maynard added a six-ball 20 for England
at the death, seeing his side virtually replicate the 81/1 they
posted batting first in 2002.
However, the result would be different this
year. After their own quickfire start, the Pakistanis - four times the winners
in Hong Kong -saw Player of the Final Croft suffocate their
challenge with a superb over of 2/4 in the middle of their innings,
effectively ending their charge for a fourth successive victory
and third in the last three years.
Maynard, a veteran of five Hong Kong International
Cricket Sixes campaigns, was thrilled with the victory - and the chance
to captain his country to the US$80,000 winners' cheque.
"The boys are really delighted with the win.
After the loss in our first game (against South Africa) and the
Kenya match, we
were looking at being knocked out of the Cup competition,
so this is a tremendous win," he said.
After that opening defeat, Kenya needed just
14 runs off the final over of Saturday's last game to relegate the English
to the Plate phase of the competition. However, thanks to a Darren
Maddy gem of an over, they survived and, indeed, prospered. A
defeat of Sri Lanka in today's opening game sent them into
the elite Cup side of the draw and on the path to the title.
Added Maynard: "I have always maintained that
the secret to Sixes cricket is not the batting, but the bowling.
Crofty
bowled a magnificent over and really won the game for us
with the combination of his batting and bowling."
Pakistan captain Moin Khan was magnanimous
in defeat. "We
didn't play well enough," conceded Khan, who was
involved in a bizarre incident on his way to the crease when
he failed to crossover with outgoing batsman Abdul Razzaq.
The Pakistanis suffered a four-run penalty
as a result, although it did not affect the outcome of the match.
In addition to Pakistan's legions of fans that left with
their heads down, their great rivals India also completed a disappointing
weekend with a loss to South Africa in the Plate competition.
The Africans, only relegated to the Plate on run-rate after finishing
the pool stage tied with England and Sri Lanka, restricted the
Indians to 57 all out. In response, they cruised past their opponents' total
without the loss of any wickets.
In the other matches, surprise World Cup semi-finalists
Kenya ended their winless drought, edging Hong Kong for third
place
in the Plate division.
That match ended a wretched tournament for
the hosts, who were winless in 2003 after taking out the Plate
honour in
2002.
In the Cup competition, New Zealand bounced
back from their semi-final
defeat to England to take third place over Sri Lanka. With
Saman Jayanthe claiming the Player of the Tournament honour,
there
was still reason for the Lankans to smile.
MATCH SUMMARY - DAY 2
Game 11
England (104/1) defeated Sri Lanka (99/1) by 5 runs
R. Croft 35 ret S. Jayantha 33 ret
S. Jayantha 1/28 D. Brown 0/14
Game 12
Hong Kong (60/3) lost to Pakistan (61/1) by 5 wickets
M. Eames 32* A. Mahmood 24*
A. Razzaq 1/8 A. Haider 1/14
Points Table
Pool 1 |
Team |
Played |
Won |
Lost |
Points |
New Zealand |
3 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
Pakistan |
3 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
India |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
Hong Kong |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Pool 2 |
Team |
Played
|
Won
|
Lost
|
Points
|
Sri Lanka |
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
England |
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
South Africa |
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
Kenya |
3
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
NB. Sri Lanka and England progressed to Cup phase by superior
run-rate.
Plate Semi-final 1
South Africa (89/5) defeated Hong Kong (52/1) by
37 runs
G. Dros 54* R. Eagleson 25*
R. Eagleson 3/9 G. Dros 1/10
Cup Semi-final 1
New Zealand (86/1) lost to England ((87/1) by
5 wickets
A. Adams 36 ret K. Ali 35 ret
R. Croft 1/14 M. Walker 1/20
Plate Semi-final 2
Kenya (73/3) lost to India (74/1) by 5 wickets
R. Shah 29 V. Kambli 34 ret
M. Kanitkar 1/15 R. Shah 1/6
Cup Semi-final 2
Pakistan (86/4) defeated Sri Lanka (65/4) by
21 runs
N. Latif 28 S. Jayantha 29
R. Palliyaguru 1/17 A. Razzaq 2/3
Plate Third Place Play-off
Kenya (63/5) defeated Hong Kong (61/3)
by 2 runs
R. Shah 16 M. Jamshaid 34*
A. Najeeb 2/10 T. Odoyo 1/3
Cup Third Place Play-off
New Zealand (84/4) defeated Sri Lanka
(55/1) by 29 runs
A. Barnes 39* S. Jayantha 35*
D. Liyanage 2/3 M. Horne 1/2
Plate Final
India (57) lost to South Africa
(0/58) by 6 wickets
S. Bahutule 12 J. Ontong 32 ret
G. Dros 3/11 N. Chopra 0/12
Cup Final
England (0/86) defeated Pakistan
(65/4) by 21 runs
R. Croft 31 ret I. Nazir 27
I. Nazir 0/9 R. Croft 2/4
FINAL RESULTS
Cup
Team US$
1 England 80,000
2 Pakistan 50,000
3 New Zealand 35,000
4 Sri Lanka 30,000
Plate
Team US$
1 South Africa 25,000
2 India 20,000
3 Kenya 10,000
4 Hong Kong 10,000
Provided by CCIL/Hong Kong Cricket Association. For further
information, please contact Danny Lai at (852) 2504-8102.
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