Posted by Look, obviously six fours in an over is not better than six sixes in an over. But also it is. That’s what we’re going to argue here.
Delhi Capitals were chasing 155 against Kolkata Knight Riders yesterday and it’s fair to say they got off to a pretty solid start.
First of all, Shivam Mavi bowled a wide first ball, so the required run-rate had already dipped a smidge without them having to do anything. Prithvi Shaw then hit the next six deliveries for four.
Hitting every ball to the boundary is a fully cool thing to do. We more often talk about six sixes because that’s the best a batter can do without assistance from the fielding side. But six fours is, in a weird way, more impressive.
Six sixes is not a thing that just happens. You’re already throwing caution to the wind by the time you’ve hit two in a row. By the third, you start thinking about doing a Sobers. After four, you’re pretty much committed. Ball six, you’re taking a swing no matter what.
But six fours? That’s controlled, isn’t it? Bear in mind that Shaw’s feat was achieved in the first over of the innings. Three shots in, he’d already had a great over and there was no need to do anything risky.
Second half of the over, Shaw wasn’t feeling pressured into death-or-glory shot-making. He was still trying to weigh risk with reward. He hadn’t shunted the batting aggression slider up to max. He hit three more fours because his normal batting is fantastic.
Okay, the fourth ball was dogshit. It was wide and full, but Shaw still pinged it away delightfully. Ball five, he angled it through a gap with the precision of a man who is seeing the world at a different speed from the rest of us. Ball six was, admittedly, airborne, but it was the deliberate lofted drive of a man who hasn’t even considered that he might not middle it.
After one over, Prithvi Shaw was on 24 not out and he hadn’t even vaguely looked like getting out. As far as Kolkata Knight Riders were concerned, there was every chance he would continue hitting every ball for four until they were beaten. That is a fairly terrifying prospect.
Are you talking about the Indian IPL league? You do know the county championship’s back? Can’t we just have daily updates on Darren Stevens? It’s his 45th birthday today.
He’s just taken a wicket. He’s on for all ten. Shove the IPL up your arse.
Say what you like about the IPL, but its still a good cricket competition.
I agree, Dave, but mainly becuase more often than not you can see these ‘global icons’ perform really badly. They go from hero to zero in a matter of minutes and that is what is best. Also, watching when Kohli and Maxwell are dismissed in two consecutive balls in a 2 wicket maiden is what I love. People who have built themselves up to be these wonder men become these plebs who do nothing but just sit in a dugout.
Why oh why are those foreign players not going g home to their families?
Absurd and obscene tournament.
The ‘you are playing for humanity’ message was… quite something.
#Warnerisstupid
Lets just acknowledge and appreciate that fact that Warner has been dropped, and he has been dropped from being captain.
#Warnerissutpid and the people in charge of him have acknowledged that too and the world now knows that Warner is* stupid.
* – should be in italics but I cant put it into italics.
Is there such a thing as an anti-fan club for the more “divisive” players? Can you sign up by post to get posters, comic book stories and branded merchandise every month?
(Is David Warner even divisive? Maybe he unites people, although unfortunately for the chap, primarily against him?)
Rumour has it that England fans are going to wear David Warner is a s*** bloke T-shirts.
Wonder if Yorkshire fans could spake earlier
What would impress me massively is six threes in an over. Suspect that’s never happened before. Suggests a certain lack of power, or difficult outfield, combined with excellent timing and awareness of the fielder positions. And needs it from both batters in the partnership.
Six fives would be the ultimate.
Definitely even rarer, you’d remember it forever if you saw it! But usually a five relies on some level of incompetence from the fielders (or a bizarrely large ground) so it might not be reflect primarily on the batters. Anyway, almost impossible to happen. But I wonder whether in two hundred years of first-class cricket, somewhere, sometime, six threes feels like it might just have been possible.