Cricket legends fire up on the ice

There were sixes aplenty as cricket took a tentative step into the world of winter sports with the Ice Cricket Challenge in the Swiss Alps.

Some modern greats of the game faced off for a T20 match in the resort town of St Moritz in temperatures below zero degrees.

The match was played on a frozen, snow-covered lake on an artificial turf carpet, with players using traditional cricket gear and a red ball, but wearing normal sports shoes rather than spikes.

Australians Mike Hussey and Andrew Symonds part of the action, while Virender Sehwag and Shahid Afridi captained the respective teams.

Sehwag wasn't undone by the unusual conditions, hitting five sixes as he scored 62 while Symonds finished with 40 as Sehwag's XI finished with 9-164 from 20 overs.

Former England international Owais Shah was the match-winner, however, hitting five sixes in his innings of 74 as Afridi's XI won the match with almost five overs to spare.

While the star-studded tournament is new, cricket has been played on ice in St Moritz for more than 25 years, with the lake’s incredibly thick ice able to withstand more than 200 tons of weight – enough not just for a game for cricket, but also for grandstands to house spectators.

The second of the two matches will be played on Friday night (AEDT).

Sehwag’s XI: Virender Sehwag (c), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Mohammad Kaif, Joginder Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga

Afridi’s XI: Graeme Smith, Matt Prior, Jacques Kallis, Owais Shah, Shahid Afridi, Grant Elliot, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Monty Panesar, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akthar