On Wednesday, Glenn Maxwell smashed 28 runs (and one defenceless seat) off a Jimmy Neesham over in Australia’s 64-run T20 win over New Zealand.
Maxwell went 4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 6, only to be outdone by West Indies captain Kieron Pollard a day later who hit six sixes facing up to Sri Lanka’s Akila Dananjaya in another T20 game.
Pollard followed in the footsteps of South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs (2007 World Cup against The Netherlands) and India’s Yuvraj Singh (2007 T20 World Cup against England) as the only players to hit six sixes in an international over of cricket.
We always feel sorry for the hapless bowlers in these cases — Dananjaya had actually claimed a hat-trick the previous over, but nobody will remember that in years to come.
Much like Nash, a fabulous county cricketer from Wales who finished his career seven wickets short of 1000. However, he is only ever remembered for the six deliveries he bowled in a 1968 game, all dispatched for six by the legendary West Indian Garfield Sobers. It was the first time such a thing had happened in first-class cricket.
Nash passed away at the age of 74 in 2019 after collapsing at a dinner at Lord’s, but his name is forever linked with Sobers. Before he died he recalled that famous over which was bowled at a game in Swansea between Glamorgan and Nottinghamshire.
“Garry was on about 40 not out. I had got his wicket a couple of times before, and as they were now seeking quick runs before a declaration, I thought I could do so again,” Nash told The Cricketer magazine from the stands at the same ground.
What is rarely mentioned was that the field was ridiculously short on one side. “Actually it was only a half-chip,” Nash said. “If they brought the boundaries in it would have been an under-13 pitch. But we’ve played cricket here since 1921 so it’s OK. And I’ve hit a few sixes here myself, of course.
“The first ball I bowled to Garry after tea — left-arm spin, around the wicket — wasn’t a bad ball, on a length on the stumps.
“He hit it straight up there. Over long-on. It went out of the ground and hit the guttering on The Cricketers (pub).
“I thought ‘Oh, crikey’. But I also thought the best way to bowl and get him out was to keep pitching it up and let him have a go at it and hope that he whacks it up in the air. And that’s exactly what he did, except he didn’t whack it too short! He put the next one over square leg and it bounced into the road.
“Then the third landed up here, over long-off. I thought, ‘That went into orbit, pretty much’. The lads were getting further and further away from me, except that I still had a slip. I don’t know why. The next one went miles over mid-wicket. He played everything off the back foot. I thought ‘OK, but he’s going to mis-hit one in a minute’.”
“I gave the fifth one a little bit more air. He got underneath it a bit more. (Teammate) Roger Davis was at long-off on the line. He got his hands ready and took the catch but then he overbalanced and sat down on the line.
“There were members shouting ‘out’ and there were members shouting ‘six’. The umpires had a consultation.”
Sobers thought he was out and started walking off the field. The umpires eventually signalled six and he walked back to the crease.
“There was one ball to go,” Nash said. “(Glamorgan captain) Tony Lewis says people kept coming up and having a word to me, but actually no one said anything. There was no one close enough!
“I bowled a seamer, from round the wicket off a short run. Something I’d never done before. And it was the worst ball of the day, never mind the over. And that disappeared over mid-wicket on to the road. It ended up at a bus stop way, way down the road and this little lad picked the ball up, took it home and brought it back the next day and it was on the national news. And there was such a long time afterwards trying to find another ball from the dressing room that Garry said, ‘right that’s it I’ve had enough’, and he declared.”
Wendell tees off
It’s 10am on Wednesday this week and Flinders Street in Wollongong is at a standstill.
A car has broken down in the middle of the street and the owner is at her wit’s end. Up steps a man in the car behind her, a portly fellow whose would-be attempts to play the hero fall flat. He can’t budge the busted vehicle and traffic is backing up.
Another man is in a rush. He’s supposed to be playing golf up the road in Sydney and this could prove to be a problem.
He dashes out of his car, tells the driver to release the handbrake and leans in.
A Week At A Time’s Wollongong spy is stuck in the same traffic jam and his eyes widen. It’s the biggest set of calf muscles he’s ever seen and the stricken vehicle moves immediately. Traffic can move again and Wendell Sailor makes his tee time at Bonnie Doon Golf Club.
The retired Broncos and Dragons winger loves his golf these days and happily took up an invite to play a pre-event pro-am hosted by fellow NRL retiree and golf nut Braith Anasta.
Big Del, however, was not the star of the celeb-stacked day that was played a day before the proper golfers teed off in The Players Series tournament.
That honour went to Roosters fullback James Tedesco who won the closest-to-the-pin prize after very nearly snaring a hole in one.
If The Shoe fits ...
Rugby fans will remember John Schuster with fondness. The Samoan-born New Zealander nicknamed “The Shoe” played 10 Tests for the All Blacks but was perhaps more suited to the sevens format, with a killer sidestep that baffled even the mighty Fijians.
Schuster would eventually switch codes and play 47 games for the Newcastle Knights between 1991 and 1993.
Matty Johns played alongside The Shoe in a Knights jumper and on Friday revealed the secret to his deadly right-foot sidestep.
Club officials were concerned for their star signing when he would walk around the field with a noticeable limp. The Knights doctor was even called in to investigate but, rather than being the sign of an injury, Schuster was wearing two different boots.
“On his left foot he had a moulded Asics and on his right foot he had a Mizuno boot with massive screw-ins … so when he walked he limped all the time,” Johns said on his SEN Radio show Morning Glory.
BC’s tip of the week
Last week’s tip, Ole Kirk, was retired after a dismal effort in the Australian Guineas. Some readers wish Brendan Cormick would retire his tipping licence. It’s been a long time between winners but it’s time to stop the rot.
In race 5 at Flemington on Saturday No 2 Oxley Road is unbeaten after two starts and trainer Peter Moody has spoken in glowing terms about the sprinter’s capabilities.
“Weight stops trains and last time I was on my talking scales they told me to get off,” Brendan tells us. Give Oxley Road strength.
mcloughlins@
theaustralian.com.au
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On weeks like this, A Week At A Time’s thoughts always turn to Malcolm Nash.