Hong Kong entrants, Kowloon and Hong Kong CCs, are probable favourites for the third annual FPDSavills Shanghai International Cricket Sixes, which begins in the Chinese city tomorrow.

They head a 12 team field which includes sides from South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and of course, China.

Among those are two all-Japanese squads, an entry from Beijing comprised completely of Chinese nationals and the Korean Crusaders, an 80% indigenous combination which debuted this year in the South Korean domestic competition.

While the presence of those teams is a boost for cricket's development in East Asia, it is the expatriate entries which are expected to threaten the Hong Kong sides.

The expat teams making up the rest of the field are sides from the British Embassy in Tokyo, the Canton CC from Guangzhou, Peking CC in Beijing, two Shanghai outfits and the debut of the Nanjing CC.

Nanjing, formed just six weeks ago, will play its first match at the Sixes. Officials last week were not sure they could muster a squad.

Teams of all standards will have the opportunity to take home a trophy, with group winners, runners-up and third place getters entering the Cup, Plate and Bowl competitions respectively on the second day.

The Sixes have become the major event of the cricket season in China, following the collapse last year of the Embassy based competition in Beijing.

The Shanghai season kicked off in April when former Australian captain and ICC ambassador, Allan Border, spoke at a dinner hosted by the Shanghai Cricket Club, and graced the club's Waigaoqiao pitch at Pudong.

Since then, teams of expats from Australia, New Zealand, England and the Rest of the World have been competing in a weekly Sixes competition.

The Shanghai Cricket Club is affiliated to the Shanghai Football Club which was established in 1997 with a goal to develop social sport and especially Rugby and Cricket within a friendly environment. The Club's 20,000 square metre facility is located in Waigaoqiao, Pudong.

The pools and draw:

FPDSavills Shanghai International Cricket Sixes 2000 - Competition Format
Group 1	     Group 2	            Group 3	          Group 4
1. HKCC	     4. Kowloon CC	    7. Shanghai Cavaliers 10. Japan Expats
2. Japan A   5. Shanghai Roundheads 8. Korea	          11. Chinese Beijing
3. Peking CC 6. Nanjing	            9. Japan B            12. Guangzhou

Day 1	2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw				
1	08:30	HKCC	            Vs	Japan A	
2	09:15	Kowloon CC	    Vs	Nanjing	
3	10:00	Peking CC	    Vs	HKCC	
4	10:45	Shanghai Roundheads Vs	Kowloon CC	
5	11:30	Japan A	            Vs	Beijing Expats	
6	12:15	Shanghai Roundheads Vs	Nanjing	
7	13:00	Shanghai Cavaliers  Vs	Korea	
8	13:45	Japan Expats	    Vs	Guangzhou	
9	14:30	Japan B	            Vs	Shanghai Cavaliers	
10	15:15	Japan Expats	    Vs	Chinese Beijing	
11	16:00	Korea	            Vs	Japan	
12	16:45	Chinese Beijing	    Vs	Guangzhou	
Day 2	Knock Out Phase		
1	09:00	Bowl Semi-F	3rd place Group 1 Vs	3rd place group 2	
2	09:45	Bowl Semi-F	3rd place group 3 Vs	3rd place group 4	
3	10:30	Plate Semi-F	2nd place group 1 Vs	2nd place group 2	
4	11:15	Plate Semi-F	2nd place group 3 Vs	2nd place group 4	
5	12:00	Cup Semi-F	1st place group 1 Vs	1st place group 2	
6	12:45	Cup Semi-F	1st place group 3 Vs	1st place group 4	
7	13:30	Bowl Final	Winner match 1	Vs	Winner match 2	
8	14:15	Plate Final	Winner match 3	Vs	Winner match 4	
9	15:00	Cup Final	Winner match 5	Vs	Winner match 6