The Cricket Foundation's annual 'Six in the City' tournament began once more at Dulwich College, with the first of three preliminary rounds. The teams taking part were PricewaterhouseCoopers - competition champions two years ago - Black Rock, Apax Partners and, this week's winners, IG Index.

Teams of six contested in a round robin tournament with each side facing six overs. Each bowler was allowed up to two overs and each batsman was forced to retire after hitting 25.

The opening game saw Apax Partners face IG Index, with Apax batting first. IG Index's bowling put them on the front foot with Ivor Charlton, the opening batsman, going for a duck. However a solid 19 from Chaminda Ranatunga meant IG Index were left with 57 to chase. IG batted at a similar pace and were left with four to win off the last ball. Nick Dale-Lace faced the last ball which he comfortably cleared the ropes to get the winning runs and not for the last time that evening.

On the other pitch, PwC faced Black Rock. PwC batted first with their first three batsmen making a total of 59, with Nick Storey, their captain, scoring an unbeaten 25. They amassed a total of 74, the only bowlers' wicket being a brilliant caught and bowled by Andrew Hodges. Black Rock faced problems when Andrew Peckham was run out, after trying to take on the fielder's arm for an ambitious second run on his first ball. Black Rock's innings was helped with a 25 retired from Fergus Gibson but they still finished the innings seven runs short.

Both fresh from victory, PwC and IG Index faced up. An aggressive 18 from PwC opener Zain Iqbal pushed the team to a total of 57. IG Index were immediately on the back foot with Sacha Selvaratnam getting a diamond duck. But, matters were once again left to Dale-Lace, hitting a boundary off the last ball to snatch the victory away from PwC by two runs earning him the nickname 'The Finisher'.

Apax then played Black Rock, both coming off a loss in their opening game. Black Rock batted first and after the danger man Fergus Gibson was bowled for two by Peter Flynn, Apax held them to 50. Apax built an impressive opening partnership with Ranatunga once again impressing with a 23 not out but two cheap wickets meant that they were kept to 47, losing the game by three runs.

The unbeaten IG Index went on to complete a clean sweep beating Black Rock by six wickets. They chased down Black Rock's total of 50, half of which came from a Gibson 25 retired, with two overs to spare. IG Index's openers' Greg Adams and Selvaratnam hit a partnership of 51, both getting 24 not out.

The last game of the evening was between Apax and PwC. PwC posted a massive 81-0 thanks to Storey and Iqbal both getting 25 not out. Apax, still without victory, were left with a tall order and finished the game with 53 after the six overs.

Final Results:

The top two teams, IG Index and PwC, qualified for the Final’s day at the HAC in September to compete for City bragging rights. Alongside four other teams who will battle it out in preliminary rounds on Thursday (9th June and Tuesday (14th June)

The player of the day was Nick Dale-Lace, who it turns out played for Worcestershire 2nd XI in 2000, hit two boundaries to win both games on the last ball. Special mention must go to Nick Storey and Fergus Gibson who were both forced to retire twice after scoring 25.

Report provided by Alex Briggs