THE sTory of 12 sixEs
words Richard Thomas
Who can forget the grainy Tv ‘’Wherever I go, everybody talks about the Johannesburg) but of course it is
pictures of sir Garfield sobers six sixes. Nobody talks about anything else . great to be just one of four guys
hitting six sixes in an over at st At times, I have to say , ‘You know, it seems who have hit six sixes in an over. ”
Helen’s in swansea 40 years as though the only thing I have ever done in
ago in august 1968. it was the cricket is hit six sixes’.” But what is it like to be the bowler cricket
first of only four occasion the who concedes 36 an over?
feat has been achieved, and Putting the achievement into perspective
amazingly Glamorgan have Gibbs , who did it off Dutch bowler bowler “Sobers came along and quickly
connections with three of them Daan van Bunge during South Africa’s World ended my slow-bowling career. It
as indian ravi shastri and south Cup clash with Holland in St Kitts last year, was a pretty short experiment,’’
african Herschelle Gibbs have said , “To do it in training is hard, let alone said Nash, who was 23 in 19 68.
both played for the Welsh county. in a game.
“I suddenly attained celebrity
And while Gibbs was playing for Glamorgan “It was an interesting and very funny few status. I have been on talk shows
during the Twenty20 Cup , he was one of minutes for me. I was under the impression and the Terry Wogan show with
the guests of honour at a special a special until afterwards that Sir Gary’s six sixes Garry and appeared as a guest on
dinner at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff were achieved in international cricket, so his This Is Your Life programme.
to commemorate the 40th anniversary of it was only when I came off the field it was There is never a day goes by when
Sobers’ ground-breaking efforts. confirmed to me that I was the first to do people don’t talk to me about it.
it in international cricket. So it was quite I have never been uncomfortable
Even today Sobers admits he is still as special. about it. They were six balls in my
surprised as anyone at his amazing batting life.
exploits, which saw him plant Malcolm ‘’But it only lasted a few months until Yuvraj
Nash’s experimental slow left armers for six Singh came along and did it in the Twenty20 ‘’By and large, though, people
sixes all over St Helen’s. “Striking six sixes World Cup. have short memories. Nobody
is something you don’t think of, but when it remembers me taking nine for 56
happens you realise that you have achieved ‘’I suppose the ultimate for any cricketer against Hampshire or scoring a 61-
something special,” said Sobers. would be to do it in Test cricket because ball century in the Benson & Hedges
that is the ultimate test of a batsman’s ability. Cup, in much the same way as they
“Six sixes in an over is not an easy things to only remember Don Fox for his
do and I never thought mine was on until the ‘’For me my greatest achievement in cricket missed conversion in front of the
last ball. I thought then I had to give it a go is scoring 175 against Australia (when South posts in the rugby league Challenge
because it never really crossed my mind that Africa chased down an improbable 434 in Cup final.”
a batsman could hit six sixes in an over. 49.5 overs in a one-day international in
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