New Zealander Leo Carter smashes six sixes in an over
Batsman becomes 7th player to achieve feat playing in domestic T20 fixture
Wellington: New Zealander Leo Carter has achieved the batsman’s dream of six consecutive sixes in an over becoming only the seventh player to achieve the feat at top domestic level or above.
Playing for Canterbury against Northern Districts in a domestic Twenty20 fixture, the 25-year-old clouted former New Zealand spinner Anton Devcich over the boundary rope with every ball of the 16th over.
“I just stepped across and swung as hard as I could,” he said of his exceptional feat as Canterbury chased down an imposing 220 in the highest successful chase in a New Zealand Twenty20 match.
“I’m not so sure I got many off the middle, but pretty short boundary there, so they just carried over, I was pretty thankful for that.
“We needed a big over at that time, it was sort of my job to just try and take down that end and I was lucky enough to get a few over there, so it was good.”
It is the first time a New Zealander has hit six sixes in an over, and just the seventh time in history at a top domestic level or higher.
Carter struggled at the start of his innings with 11 off 12 deliveries before opening up to score 59 off the next 17 balls he faced to finish unbeaten on 70.
Six sixes in an over was first achieved in a first-class match by Garry Sobers in 1968 playing for Nottinghamshire with Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash the unfortunate bowler.
It was next achieved by Ravi Shastri in a first-class game for Bombay in 1985 then South African Herschelle Gibbs at the 2007 World Cup.
The last four occasions have been in Twenty20 fixtures by Yuvraj Singh (India, 2007), Ross Whiteley (Worcestershire, 2017) and Hazratullah Zazai (Kabula Zwanan, 2018) and Carter.
Alex Hales whacked six consecutive sixes for Nottinghamshire against Warwickshire in 2015 but not all in the same over.