Leo Carter joined Yuvraj Singh, Ross Whiteley and Hazratullah Zazai as the fourth player to hit six sixes in one over bowled in Twenty20s. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
New Delhi:
Sir Gafield Sobers, Ravi Shastri, Yuvraj Singh, Hazratullah Zazai, Ross Whiteley and Herschelle Gibbs. These are the six players who have achieved the feat of smashing six consecutive sixes in one over bowled by a bowler. Now, in the first week of the new decade, another name has joined this elite list of players. 25-year-old Leo Carter from Canterbury, New Zealand, has become the seventh player in the history of cricket to hit six sixes in one over. Carter achieved this in the Super Smash Twenty20 tournament clash between Canterbury and Northern Knights at the Hagley Oval on Sunday.
Northern Knights chose to bat against Canterbury and they were boosted by a partnership of 119 between wicketkeeper Tim Seifert and captain Dean Brownlie. Both players, who have played for New Zealand in the past, took the attack to the Canterbury bowling with Seifert in particular looking in great touch. He smashed five fours and six sixes while Brownlie hits eight fours and two sixes. Some late strikes by Canterbury skipper Cole McConchie and Andrew Ellis dented the momentum but Northern Knights finished on 219/7. In response, Chad Bowes and Jack Boyle managed to get Canterbury off to a great start as they put on 64 runs in the first powerplay but Boyle was dismissed by Brett Randell.
When Bowes and Stephen Murdoch departed in quick succession, Canterbury were facing an uphill struggle but McConchie and Carter put on a solid stand that kept them in the game. McConchie was aggressive with three fours off Daryl Mitchell and a six off Ish Sodhi. The Canterbury skipper continued on his aggressive ways with a six and four off Anurag Verma and when McConchie lofted Scott Kuggleijn for a six, he had blazed away to 43 off 19 balls. In stepped Carter and he proceeded to create history in the 16th over bowled by Anton Devcich.
Devcich to Leo carter
— Heisenberg (@RitwikBittu) January 5, 2020
6 sixes in an over
amazing innings while chasing 220. pic.twitter.com/tUUZo5BUNe
The first ball was heaved over deep backward square leg for the first six and he followed it up with two massive sixes to deep midwicket. Another six followed to deep square leg and the fifth one was dispatched over long on. History was created when Carter blasted Devcich over deep square leg for the sixth six in the over. Carter notched up his fifty off just 21 balls and he continued the onslaught with a six and four off Randell. Fittingly, Carter slammed Sodhi to the long off fence for a boundary as Canterbury won the match by seven wickets with Carter on 70 off 29 balls.
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Carter became only the fourth batsman to achieve the feat in T20 cricket in both domestic and international level. The other batsmen to achieve the feat in T20s include India's Yuvraj (2007), Whitely (2017) and Zazai (2018). While Yuvraj achieved it in the World T20 clash in Durban in 2007, Whiteley did it for Worcestershire against Yorkshire in the T20 blast. Zazai smashed six sixes in an over off Abudullah Mazari in the clash between Kabul Zwanan and Balkh Legends in the Afghanistan Premier League clash in Sharjah. The knock also equalled the fastest fifty in Twenty20s.
