Centurion - Wednesday marked 15 years ago to the day that South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs became the first player to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket.
It was the Cricket World Cup on March 16, 2007, when South Africa came up against the Netherlands in Basseterre in the West Indies. Jacques Kallis and Gibbs were at the wicket with the score on 178/2 at the beginning of the 30th over.
Gibbs took strike, with the unfortunate bowling honour going to Dutch leg spinner Daan van Bunge.
The first ball Gibbs charged down the wicket and hit the ball over long on for six, the second and third both went over long off. The fourth was deposited over the deep midwicket fence, before the fifth was hit over wide long off for yet another maximum.
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Finally, Gibbs smashed the record sixth six over deep midwicket to etch his name in the history books.
#OnThisDay in 2007, @hershybru became the first player to hit six sixes in an over at the @cricketworldcup. pic.twitter.com/CgAA0R1jpo
Gibbs himself, now aged 48, looked back fondly on that fateful day.
Gibbs added: “I was going for it anyway but after the 3rd one I thought,well maybe there’s a little something something going on here.”
Since Gibbs achieved the feat, three other batsman have also added their name to the list. In fact, six months later on September 19 in 2007, India’s Yuvraj Singh reached the magical mark in a T20 World Cup game against England in South Africa.
The next batsman to add his name to the list would be West Indian Kieron Pollard on March 3, 2021. Pollard put together his six sixes against Sri Lanka in Coolidge, West Indies.
Finally, Jaskaran Malhotra representing the USA in a One-Day International against Papua New Guinea, in Oman, on September 9 last year became the latest addition to the six-sixes group.