"It's fantastic to see such a multi-national line-up of of sides, including New Zealand and Bahrain for the first time," said Tournament director Brad Tarr.

Teams will be flying in from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia, Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Bahrain, UAE and New Zealand to compete along with local Thai teams.

Also confirmed for the Phuket Sixes are the former England pace bowler Alan Mullally and former Australian international and Phuket regular,Trevor Chappell.

Matches start at 9.15am daily from Thursday to Sunday. Finals in all divisions will be played Sunday afternoon.

The "Sixes by the Sea" gets underway with a beach cricket tournament. The tournament also features social functions at The Green Man, Joe Kool's bar and the Gala Awards Dinner at the Hilton Arcadia Hotel.

On Friday 18 from 6.30pm a Charity fundraising Twenty/20 match featuring all the best players from the tournament will be held under floodlights at the Karon Stadium.

Entry for all spectators is free and food & drinks are available at the ground.

The Phuket International Cricket Sixes 2008 is one of a series of cricket tournaments on the Asian Cricket Sixes Tour which also includes events in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, Shanghai and Singapore.

For further information see the event website www.phuketsixes.com