
Cricket World Cup Sees Record 'Sixes' Performance
At the cricket World Cup competition in the Caribbean this week there was a record breaking performance. South African Herschelle Gibbs struck for six sixes in an over, a first in one-day international cricket.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
History made at the World Cup of Cricket yesterday in St. Kitts. South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs smashed six sixes in an over. He's the first man to hit six sixes in a World Cup. South Africa defeated the Netherlands. Now, you might compare Mr. Gibbs' six sixes in an over to a baseball player hitting six homeruns in a single World Series game, which, by the way, has never come close to happening. Both Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson hit three homeruns and not on consecutive pitches as Herschelle Gibbs did yesterday.
As Telford Vice of Reuters put it, he hammered hapless legs spinner Daan van Bunge back over his head four times over the ropes on the one-side twice to become the first player to achieve the beat of one-day cricket. Gibbs launched Van Bunge's first delivery of the 30th over high on over long-on, followed that blow with strikes over long-off, twice, a six over mid-wicket, and another pair of sixes over long-off. Got all that? How long before George Steinbrenner calls him?
(Soundbite of music)
SIMON: Coming up, the legend of a man with droopy socks and a devastating shots, Pistol Pete Maravich. Stay tuned.
Copyright © 2007 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.