All-Stars stay unbeaten; India win one match, lose one in HK sixes

Hong Kong, Oct 27 (UNI) India had a mixed luck as they won one match and lost one on the opening day of the two-day Cathay Pacific Standard Chartered Hong Kong Sixes here today.

The Robin Singh-led Indian squad, which also includes Ajay Jadeja and Nikhil Chopra, beat New Zealand by four runs and then crashed to a three-wicket loss to England in the final match of the day.

India play Australia in another league game and in case they win, they get a chance to play another game in an attempt to try and find a berth in the semi-finals.

The most successful side of the day was All Stars team who had a bunch of retired stars, but all of them with enough ammunition to lay others flat. They did enough to win win all their three matches on the first day.

Except for India's Anil Kumble, still a regular in Indian Test side, Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Heath Streak and Craig McMillan have all retired from international cricket.

Warne skippered the All Stars to wins over Australia, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Former New Zealand international Craig McMillan starred in all matches for All Stars as he scored 30 against Australia, 33 against Bangladesh and 21 against South Africa.

All Stars also recorded the day's highest score with 120 runs in five overs with McMillan getting 30 and Streak 36. Anil Kumble also hammered a quickfire 28.

The only other team to have remained unbeaten on the first day was Sri Lanka who beat Hong Kong by 23 runs and Pakistan by four wickets.

Brief scores: India beat New Zealand by 4 runs: India 88 for 0 (Sodhi 35, Jadeja 31); New Zealand 84 for 1 (Spearman 31) England beat India by 3 wickets: India 63 for 3 (Bhatia 33); England 66 for 3 (Kabir Ali 18, Bresnan 16) UNI XC HSB PDS ND1728