Garry Sobers smashing six sixes off an over from Malcolm Nash, Glamorgan v Nottinghamshire, Cardiff, August 31, 1968

Garry Sobers smashing six sixes off an over from Malcolm Nash, Glamorgan v Nottinghamshire, Cardiff, August 31, 1968



Nottinghamshire won the toss and batted, making reasonable progress on the Saturday. At 308 for 5, Sobers decided that quick runs were needed for a declaration that would allow his bowlers a crack at the Glamorgan top order before the close.
Runs came quickly, and then Sobers really opened up. The victim was Malcolm Nash, a 23-year-old left-arm seamer who was experimenting with spin bowling.
"The captain asked me if I fancied having a go at bowling some slow-left armers," Nash told The Guardian recently. "Sobers came along and quickly ended my slow-bowling career. It was a pretty short experiment."



Sobers decided on all-out attack. "I wasn't bothered if I was out or not," he said, "all I was interested in was quick runs and a declaration." Everything was in his favour. Nash wasn't turning the ball much and the pitch was over on the Gorse Lane side, presenting a short leg boundary for the left-handed Sobers.


The first two balls of the over were brutally heaved over midwicket, the first out of the ground, the second into the well-populated stands.
Nash responded by pushing the third delivery wider to the off but Sobers simply hit it straighter over long-on, hammering the ball with such force that he lifted his right leg off the ground as he connected, despite almost no foot movement.
Lewis ambled over and spoke to Nash. "If you want to go back to the usual stuff and whack it in the blockhole, that's fine with me," he told him. "I can handle it," Nash replied. "Leave him to me."
The fourth delivery was straighter; Sobers pulled the ball over backward square leg and it cannoned off the concrete terracing and back towards the square-leg umpire. "It was only then that I contemplated going for the six sixes," Sobers said. The crowd, however, were ahead of him and had started chanting "Six, six, six."
The fifth delivery was again straight and pitched up, and once more Sobers smashed it back over Nash from the crease. This time, though, he didn't middle it and Roger Davis, back-pedalling at long-off, jumped backwards as he took the catch and landed over the rope. There then followed a minute or so of confusion. Sobers started heading back to the pavilion, believing he had been caught. Davis shrugged and indicated he was unsure if the catch had been clean. Tony Cordle, the fielder nearest to Davis said it was a six. The crowd were yelling for Sobers to continue. The two umpires slowly converged, consulted, and then Eddie Phillipson turned and, to roars of approval, signalled another six.
Lewis then sent all his fielders to the boundary, the majority of them on the leg side. Sobers guessed that Nash would bowl a quicker one, and he guessed right. Not only was it quicker, it was also short, and Sobers, who by his own admission was seeing it like a football, rocked back and cracked the ball high over midwicket, out of the ground and trundling away down King Edward Road. It was returned the next day by a schoolboy and now sits in the Trent Bridge museum.