Sri Lanka steamroll Pakistan to win HK International Cricket Sixes

Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes champions Sri Lanka

•  Win title for second time in 17 years

The winning moment: Sri Lankan batsmen Lahiru Samarakoon and Tharindu Ratnayake celebrate victory

A proud moment for Sri Lanka Captain Lahiru Madushanka as he receives the HK Sixes trophy

Player of the Final Dhananjaya Lakshan

Player of the Tournament Tharindu Ratnayake

Sri Lanka, led by all-rounder Lahiru Madushanka, came up with a powerful all-round performance to outplay favourites Pakistan in the final and win the Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes final by three wickets with six balls to spare at Mong Kong, Hong Kong yesterday.

It was only Sri Lanka’s second win in the tournament, having last won it in 2007 under the captaincy of Indika de Saram.

Five-time winners Pakistan came into the final on the back of some exceptionally strong performances with bat and ball, but in the final they were tamed by the Lankan Lions who bowled them out for 72 in 5.2 overs, and then knocked the runs off in five overs scoring 76-3.

Winning the toss, Sri Lanka invited Pakistan to bat first, and in the very first over, as he had done so often in the tournament, Dhananjaya Lakshan struck, grabbing two wickets to put Pakistan on the back foot at 7-2. Pakistan progressed to 34 when ambidextrous spinner Tharindu Ratnayake made a double strike in his first over to reduce Pakistan to 40-4 in the third over. Only some lusty hitting by Pakistan’s leading run scorer Muhammad Aqhlaq (48 off 20 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes) saw them reach 72.

Sandun Weerakkody got Sri Lanka off the blocks in entertaining fashion, racing to 34 off 13 balls (4 sixes, 1 four) and although Pakistan fought back, capturing three wickets, there was no denying Sri Lanka the win as Madushanka with three sixes in his 5-ball 19 and Ratnayake (16* off 4 balls, 2 sixes, 1 fours) saw them home quite comfortably. Ratnayake finished the match with a six.

Lakshan won the Player of the Final award and Ratnayake the Player of the Tournament award with eight wickets, a record for the tournament.

“Our bowlers did a really good job throughout the tournament. I know the capabilities of Tharindu and my teammates. I believe he could do it and he did it really well to get us across the line,” said skipper Madushanka.

In the semi-finals, Sri Lanka had a close game against Bangladesh before winning by three wickets off the penultimate ball. Bangladesh, choosing to bat first, put up 103-5 with Player of the Match Ratnayake picking up four wickets for 33 in his two overs to put the brakes on their batting.

Sri Lanka, powered by Weerakkody’s second successive half-century (50* off 16 balls, 7 fours, 3 sixes), raced away to 87-1 in the fifth over. But following the termination of Weerakkody’s innings (a batsman has to retire once he reaches 50), Sri Lanka lost some cheap wickets to slide to 90-3 in five overs. With 14 required off the final over, Nimesh Vimukthi saw Sri Lanka over the line scoring 10 of those runs (1 four, 1 six) and running a bye after Ratnayake had taken a single off the first ball.

Sri Lanka remained unbeaten in the tournament winning all five matches, beating Oman and Bangladesh in the group matches and Nepal in the quarter-finals.

Weerakkody finished as the tournament’s fourth highest run-getter, accumulating 180 runs (avg. 60.00) from five matches with two 50s. Ratnayake had the most number of wickets in the tournament – 8 (avg. 14.62), and also the best bowling figures in a match – 4/33, against Bangladesh in the semi-finals.

In the second semi-final, Pakistan beat Australia by four wickets.

Five-time champions South Africa had to be content with the Plate, beating UAE by one run in a thrilling final. Oman won the Bowl final beating England by four wickets.

Final Standings

1.  Sri Lanka

2.  Pakistan

3.  Bangladesh

4.  Australia

5.  South Africa

6.  UAE

7.  Oman

8.  England