New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham celebrated his return to the national side after more than a year by smacking 5 sixes in an over against Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera in the first ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.
New Zealand batted first and Martin Guptill hit a brilliant 138 and Kane Williamson scored 76 runs. New Zealand was looking good for a score of 340 when Neesham decided to take Perera to cleaners in the 49th over of the innings.
Neesham went 6, 6, 6, 6, 2nb, 6, 1, much to the delight of the crowd and launched New Zealand to their seventh highest ODI total of 371/7. Neesham himself scored 47* in 13 balls and narrowly missed the chance to score the fastest fifty in ODI history.
With his exploits, Neesham now comes in at number 3 on the list of most expensive overs in ODI cricket, tied with AB de Villiers. Perera himself is no.2 with 35 runs in an over against South Africa and Protea’s Herschelle Gibbs is no.1 with 6 sixes in an over against the Netherlands, the first such instance in international cricket.
The 28-year old's batting strike rate of 361.53 is the highest for anyone facing more than 10 balls.
Watch his brilliant clean hitting here:
