New Zealand pacer Tim Southee equaled West Indies great Chris Gayle’s red-ball six-hitting record during his farewell Test against England in Seddon Park on Tuesday. Southee smashed two sixes against visiting skipper Ben Stokes and a third on Gus Atkinson’s bowling, which was his 98th in international cricket, the joint fourth-highest alongside Gayle.
Southee came to bat with New Zealand’s score at 272/8 in the first innings. He missed Stokes’ first ball and the England all-rounder quickly switched to bowling short balls at the Kiwi’s body. Southee pummelled his second ball over mid-wicket and the fourth in the same region but squarer to bring up 97 Test maximums.
Atkinson was hit for the 98th six and then a four on his first two deliveries, which brought up New Zealand’s 300. The record-equalling six — against the second new ball, no less — was the perfect sample testament of Southee’s hitting prowess: he danced down the track and managed to get under the bounce of Atkinson’s short ball to thump it over deep mid-wicket.
He eventually got out for 23 (10), getting a big leading edge to mid-off on another attempted slog. It was the third-fastest 10-ball knock for New Zealand. The second in this list also belongs to Southee for his 10-ball 24 against Sri Lanka in 2019.
Interestingly, Stokes, who was on the receiving end of the first two big hits, holds the record for most sixes in Tests — 133. Southee’s former captain Brendon McCullum is second with 107 followed by Australia’s Adam Gilchrist with 100. The Kiwi might get another chance in the third innings to become just the third player of the 100-sixes club in Test history.
To put Southee’s achievement into context, no Test batter in history with more than 52 sixes has faced less than the pacer’s 2243 deliveries. Unlike the batting greats that surround him in the table, Southee has never batted higher than number eight in his career, while 48 of his sixes have come from the number nine position, in short yet effective cameos.
New Zealand ended the day at 315/9 after 82 overs. The hosts are trailing the series 0-2.
