Warne, Kumble to start new cricketing chapter

Singapore: A lucrative new cricket tournament, the iSixes World Series, was unveiled in Singapore on Thursday featuring teams from all nine Test playing nations, with US $1 million going to the winner.

Singapore will host the first leg of the six-a-side extravaganza in July, with further stops expected in Shanghai, Dubai and another yet-to-be announced country. Among players confirmed for the All Stars are Indian Test captain Anil Kumble, former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak, Kiwi Craig McMillan, Australian great Shane Warne and Sri Lanka's Romesh Kaluwitharana. Apart from the Test nations, the host country will field a team as well.

"Well, cricketers just want to play cricket. And these are tournaments popping up all over the world, and I know as a cricketer I played in Hong Kong last year and I loved it. As I've said it is fun and entertaining. Great rubbing shoulders with guys like Shane Warne and Brian Lara. And the ability and opportunity to play in a tournament like this for me is very exciting and am sure it is for lot of other players. So as cricketers, we just want to play cricket and we'll play anywhere in the world. And we're very lucky that we are going to be playing in great cities like Singapore now," former New Zealand all-rounder Craig McMillan said at the launch.