Sri Lanka beat Pakistan and England to make it two out of three on the opening day of the Hong Kong cricket sixes at Kowloon Cricket Club on Saturday. At the same time England's defence of their Hong Kong Cricket Sixes title had the perfect start as Chris Read's team recorded back-to-back wins in their opening pair of matches.

Dilhara Lokuhettige succumbs to a missed ball during their cricket sixes match against Pakistan on Saturday at the Kowloon cricket club in Hong Kong. AFP

A four-wicket win against India followed victory over Pakistan earlier in the day as the English moved to the verge of qualifying for Sunday's second phase of the competition. The English survived a case of the jitters late in the game against the Indians after starting their chase of 89 runs in impressive fashion.

Darren Stevens and Peter Trego retired unbeaten after scoring 32 and 35 runs respectively but two wickets in two balls for Stuart Binny late in the game - when he claimed the scalps of Read and Graham Napier - caused some consternation for England late in the game.

Rory Hamilton Brown steadied the ship for England, however, scoring the four runs needed to secure his team's second win in a row. Earlier in the day, the English had opened their campaign with victory over Pakistan, hitting 92 runs without loss in their allotted five overs.

But, with Pakistan scoring 38 runs off Napier's penultimate over, the result hung in the balance right to the end. However, a fine final over by Trego - who claimed the wicket of Sohail Khan while only conceding 11 runs - guaranteed a winning start for the holders.

India's loss to England followed a successful start to the tournament for Anil Kumble and company when they recorded a win by six runs against Sri Lanka. Manish Pandey and Jagadeesh Arunkumar both retired unbeaten on 31 and 36 runs respectively before Kumble closed out the innings to leave the Sri Lankans to embark on an unsuccessful chase of 89 runs to win.

Sri Lanka bounced back in their next game, handing Pakistan a defeat by six runs to keep their chances of playing in Sunday's Cup competition alive. Meanwhile, Irfan Ahmad was the star for Hong Kong with both the bat and ball as the hosts won all three of their Southern hemisphere group games to become the first side to qualify for tomorrow's Cup competition.

The 19-year-old scored 33 unbeaten runs in Hong Kong's five wicket win over South Africa. He then shone with the bat against the Kiwis, hitting four sixes before retiring unbeaten once again, this time on 32 runs as Hong Kong successfully chased down a total of 92 to notch up their second win in a roww.

Irfan was on centre stage again in Hong Kong’s final group game as the home team as the home team recorded a win over Australia running out Marcus Stonis in a game that also saw Munir Dar impress with the bat sciring an unbeaten32.

“It went pretty well for us,” said Irfan after the win over Australia. “It was good and I am batting well we are looking forward to this, we knew we could do this and it’s been pretty easy for us.” South Africa bounced back from their defeat at the hands of Hong Kong to beat Australia in impressive fashion, successfully completing a 110-run chase to win by four wickets and keep their hopes of a place in the next round alive.
That loss, coupled with the defeat against Hong Kong, left Australia facing elimination from the business end of the competition.

However Sri Lanka in their final game pulled a surprise by beating England to take in the second slot of their group with England leading. In the Other group Hong Kong is leading with South Africa at the second place. England in their innings scored 91 runs with opener Peter Trego scoring 65 runs in just 14 balls.
Sri Lanka made 97 for 1 in 4.3 overs with Jeewantha Kulatunga 31 and Dilhara Lokuhettige 32 making runs.