New Sixes event collapses

	Shane Warne took part in last year's Hong Kong Sixes, but his brothers attempts to launch a new event have fallen through © AFP

The iSixes World Series, a new six-a-side tournament due to feature Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, which was set to start in Singapore next month, has collapsed.

The event was launched in May with teams from all nine Test-playing nations due to compete for a winner's cheque of US$1 million. Singapore was to host the first leg, with further stops pencilled in for Shanghai, Dubai and one other country.

"We have had to go back to the drawing board," organiser Jason Warne, brother of Shane, admitted and added that he was now looking to start a Twenty20 series later this year. "It is bad enough having to change everything once and I don't want to say too much about the Twenty20 series just yet."

Among the players confirmed for the iSixes were India captain Anil Kumble, former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak, New Zealander Craig McMillan, Shane Warne and Sri Lanka's Romesh Kaluwitharana.

Jason Warne had been busy trying to sign other top names when the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) told him it was not going to support the event. Official sanctioning from the ICC also fell through.

In a letter explaining the cancellation, obtained by AFP, Warne said he was now targeting a Twenty20 series between November and March. "The main change we have had to make to get the ACC support is to stage a Twenty20 tournament instead of a Sixes tournament," he said. "Obviously this has meant further changes as the matches take so much longer than the 45 minutes that Sixes take."

For the Twenty20 tournament, he is working on three groups of four teams with each group to play in a different country. The three cities to host the initial round-robin stages would likely be Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur with the final in Dubai, according to the letter.

"Sorry for all of the delays and changes. However, there are a lot of different parties we need to ensure are comfortable with everything we are doing," Warne said in the letter. "It now seems that we will be in a position to lock all of this in finally and start to push forward with contracts [for the Twenty20] in approximately two to three weeks once we have finalised all of the paperwork with the respective boards/associations."

Mark Burns, tournament director of the long-established Hong Kong Sixes, which declined to be part of the iSixes concept, said he had yet to be approached about holding a Twenty20 leg in Hong Kong.

"The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes continues to have the support of the ACC and official sanctioning from the ICC," he said. "As regards any proposed Twenty20 tournament in Hong Kong, the HKCA has not been approached by the organisers of the proposed iSixes.

"Any such tournament in Hong Kong would need to be held with the agreement and close cooperation of the HKCA. The HKCA would welcome any initiative to stage an event of this kind."

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