Cricket fans storm to the ground to see the batsmen going bang-bang against the bowlers, especially in this era of T20 cricket. However, the scenario was not the same way back in 2007, when Herschelle Gibbs wrote his name in the record books, in an ODI against the Netherlands in the ICC World Cup that year.
The South African opener was at the peak of his game and the poor Dutch came in for some hammering from him. Unfortunately, the poor bowler was part-timer Dan van Bunge, who was chosen for this special treatment.
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Over long-on, over long-off, over long-off, over midwicket, over long-off, over midwicket — those are the areas over which the ball soared in the 30th over of Proteas innings, as Gibbs became the first (and only) batsman to hit six sixes in international cricket, in just two-and-a-half minutes of mayhem. He also made a charity one million dollars richer as the Johnny Walker Group had promised the amount if any player accomplished the feat.
Till then, only Sir Garfield Sobers and Ravi Shastri had hit six sixes in an over, that too in first-class games. The assault from Gibbs came as a surprise as South Africa was comfortably sitting at 178-2 in 29 overs. Van Bunge, who was playing cricket after 18 months tried to ball short or full as per Gibbs’ movements, but after being hit for 4 sixes, he was clueless.
After Gibbs was dismissed for 72 from 40 balls, Mark Boucher came in after him and bludgeoned another 75 runs in just 31 balls, to take South Africa to 353/3 in 50 overs.
Since then, only Yuvraj Singh has achieved this feat in international cricket, against England’s Stuart Broad in the ICC World T20 2007. Ross Whitely, Hazratullah Zazai and Leo Carter are the other batsmen to hit six sixes in an over in various T20 leagues.
Here is the video of Gibbs' assault on Dan van Bunge at the Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts:
