hitting sixes
Have you ever wondered who are the best hitters of a cricket ball in history?
Probably not - but I have...
Focusing on test cricket (as it is the truest and purest form of the game) and using cricinfo's table, which has hitting 30 sixes as the benchmark by which to be noticed, then here is a list of the best hitters of sixes in test history (where the numerical measurement is the number of sixes hit per innings - and so 'best' is defined here as most frequent which seems reasonable to me):
1. Shahid Afridi (1.08)
2. Chris Cairns (.837)
3. Adam Gilchrist (.730)
4. Andrew Flintoff (.631)
5. Craig McMillan (.593)
6. Virender Sehwag (.527)
7. Navjot Sidhu (.490)
8. Michael Holding (.477)
9. Chris Gayle (.472)
10. Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (.462)
11. Matthew Hayden (.446)
12. Imran Khan (.437)
13. Ian Botham (.420)
14. Brendon McCullum (.413)
Who will be the next person to join this list?
What's more, if he keeps hitting at his current rate for just five more innings, he will join the list at number two - at around .920.
If you had twenty guesses I bet you wouldn't get the right name. :)
He is a New Zealander which will mean the list has TWO from Australia, England, India, and Pakistan; THREE from the West Indies; and FOUR from New Zealand - confirming my suspicion that Kiwis cultivate good hitters of the ball, even if they are not known to stick around long enough to have the kind of averages needed to win test matches... (and I don't think the smaller grounds is a complete enough reason for this over-representation of Kiwis in the list). Oh yes - and that name?! Tim Southee. Go figure.
nice chatting, always nice to chat about cricket
Paul
Probably not - but I have...
Focusing on test cricket (as it is the truest and purest form of the game) and using cricinfo's table, which has hitting 30 sixes as the benchmark by which to be noticed, then here is a list of the best hitters of sixes in test history (where the numerical measurement is the number of sixes hit per innings - and so 'best' is defined here as most frequent which seems reasonable to me):
1. Shahid Afridi (1.08)
2. Chris Cairns (.837)
3. Adam Gilchrist (.730)
4. Andrew Flintoff (.631)
5. Craig McMillan (.593)
6. Virender Sehwag (.527)
7. Navjot Sidhu (.490)
8. Michael Holding (.477)
9. Chris Gayle (.472)
10. Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (.462)
11. Matthew Hayden (.446)
12. Imran Khan (.437)
13. Ian Botham (.420)
14. Brendon McCullum (.413)
Who will be the next person to join this list?
What's more, if he keeps hitting at his current rate for just five more innings, he will join the list at number two - at around .920.
If you had twenty guesses I bet you wouldn't get the right name. :)
He is a New Zealander which will mean the list has TWO from Australia, England, India, and Pakistan; THREE from the West Indies; and FOUR from New Zealand - confirming my suspicion that Kiwis cultivate good hitters of the ball, even if they are not known to stick around long enough to have the kind of averages needed to win test matches... (and I don't think the smaller grounds is a complete enough reason for this over-representation of Kiwis in the list). Oh yes - and that name?! Tim Southee. Go figure.
nice chatting, always nice to chat about cricket
Paul
Comments
Now Southee needs to add some mental skill to his physical skill - put his head down a bit more - and get his Test average above Cairns as well.
Southee has dropped to .790
McCullum has lifted to .583
Lots of newcomers: Misbah (.550); Sammy/Rafique (.540); Haddin (.482); Bravo (.463); Warner (.450); and Pieterson (.448)
Paul