Prize money for this year's Cathay Pacific-Standard Chartered Hong Kong Sixes will be almost three times that of the last tournament in 1997 with eight top nations competing for a total purse of $2 million.
Organisers announced the hefty increase yesterday with first prize of $623,000 up for grabs in the two-day competition on November 10 and 11 at the Kowloon Cricket Club. Total prize money for the 1997 tournament was just $660,000.
Ten teams have been invited for the tournament, namely Hong Kong, Australia, England, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies.
Eight sides will compete in the event with teams drawn into two pools of four with the top two sides in each pool entering the Cup semi-finals and the others contesting the Plate semis.
Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) operations manager Mark Burns said organisers were hoping to attract several top-notch players for the tournament.
'The invited teams have promised to send their strongest squads to Hong Kong and all indications are that the best players will be made available at the time,' said Burns.
