Previous edition Champions of Hong Kong Sixes, Pakistan made winning start in their 1st match in the 2017 edition.
Pakistan defeated Hong Kong rather comfortably thanks to their potent pace attack but not before the batsmen put up 92/2 in their 5 overs. Considering the small grounds and vacant spaces, they could have easily surpassed 100. Hammad Azam (26 off 7), Sohail Tanveer (22 n.o off 9) & Anwar Ali (21 n.o off 9) got going but couldn’t get more. Aizaz Khan picked up 2/20 for Hong Kong.
The pace equation came to the picture as Hong Kong batsmen struggled to play big shots against the pace of Sohail Tanveer, Mohammad Sami, Sohail Khan & Anwar Ali. Jamie Atkinson (26 n.o off 12) & Nizakat Khan (31 off 10) couldn’t accelerate even more as they only managed to score 66/1 in their 5 overs to lose the match by 26 runs.
Australia came up against a spirited performance by Sri Lanka, which saw them post 114/2 in their 5 overs. Innings started on a disastrous note as Arjun Nair picked up 2 wickets in the very first over. However, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (31 off 9), Jeevan Mendis (33 off 7) & Farveez Maharoof (18 n.o off 7) took the score beyond 100.
Australia started strongly with Hastings (32 off 7), Nathan Reardon (26 off 7) & Matt Short (23 off 9) picking up the pace but the target was too much to achieve as Mendis bowled a brilliant final over giving away only 7 runs and picked up a wicket to restrict Australia to 98/3 in their 5 overs, with Sri Lanka winning the match by 16 runs.
Ramith Rambukwella also picked up 2/14 in his only over. Sri Lanka needed the victory to stay alive in the competition after their shock defeat to Bangladesh earlier in the day.
