Down here in New Zealand, wannabe national heroes can be spotted executing standing barbell curls, lying barbell extensions, reverse curls and dumbbell wrist curls as they strengthen up their arms for next month’s assault on cult hero status.
Why? Because, in an echo of baseball’s homerun derby and golf’s world’s longest driver competition, the quest to find the nation's most monstrous six-hitter is on, via the inaugural Big Hits Competition. New Zealand's longest tonker of a white cricket ball will be found at the final of the domestic cricket Twenty20 competition at the Cake Tin in Wellington on 26 February. Here, qualifiers from each of the six provinces, a nominee from domestic cricket, and one of the New Zealand team will be pitted against each other in an 8-way slog-off.
The domestic player will be found at the official launch event in Auckland early next month where nominees from each of the teams will unleash. My nominees would be: Central Districts (Mathew Sinclair), Northern Districts (Peter McGlashan), Wellington (Graham Napier), Auckland (Chris Martin – surely someone has to take the piss), Canterbury (Peter Fulton) and Otago (Dimitri Mascarenhas).
The challenge could be made harder if the pace of the bowler is not utilised – if it is lobbed then the hitter will have to generate all the horsepower. I was never a Physics maestro but I would rather have someone like Mark Gillespie bowling at me if I was trying to thrash one over the fence, down the road and into tomorrow.
The Hawke’s Bay Today has called for an end to speculation about the biggest six-hitter on the world cricket stage later this year: “If the ICC is prepared to dig deep into its pockets, that question can be answered once all the cricketing protagonists let the dust settle in their respective countries to send their delegates to the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup in England from June 5-21.”
The lustiest blows that I have sighted in the flesh would include a couple by Chris Cairns out of the Basin Reserve into Kent Terrace and onto the roof of the stand at Eden Park respectively, Andre Adams in the nets practising for Auckland at the Outer Oval, and Ricky Ponting bludgeoning one onto the ASB Stand at Eden Park in the moustache/afro/beard/beige-out Twenty20 match.
For the record, the biggest six in the world (according to the Wisden Cricketer) seems to be the one at the end of the arc of Charles “Buns” Thornton's swing while netting at the County Ground at Hove on 25 August 1876: “Thornton is generally considered to have been the longest hitter the game has ever known. He was a well-built six-footer, and though he had small forearms and biceps, he was very strong in the hips, and he jumped in at the ball with a tremendous free swing of the bat…He seldom wore batting gloves, and believed that the absence of impedimenta helped his freedom of movement and the swing of the bat.”
The distance travelled sans impedimenta? Nobody knows for sure, but it was around about a humungous 168 yards or 154 metres.
In terms of more recent numbers bandied about, these are the top efforts according to some late-night research at Beige Brigade HQ and the wisdom of crowds:
Honourable mentions:
Lance Cairns monstering Geoff Lawson at the MCG
Mark Waugh pummelling Daniel Vettori at the WACA
As you can see, Thornton’s gargantuan effort dwarfs the contemporary players’ tonks. Another sad fact is that the winner of the biggest slog competition will probably receive more coverage than the domestic team who win the centrepiece final – the sideshow to a sideshow. Let’s hope not.
That shot by Afridi at the Waca was mighty, does anyone have a rough idea how long it was?
Secondly, I thought the old negligence case of Bolton v Stone centred around a 100m+ hit of a cricket ball onto a neighboring street that was said to happen every other season or so, ie regularly?
2. Stone v Bolton - magnificent memory to recall that from law school or wherever you stumbled upon it...http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1951/2.html: "The distance from the striker to the fence is about 78 yards not 90 yards as the learned judge states, and to the place where the Plaintiff was hit, just under 100 yards."
Posted by: Lefty at January 21, 2009 10:49 AM
surely Gayle must feature in group somewhere.. possibly even our own Jacob Oram.
Posted by: Krishan at January 21, 2009 12:17 PM
I just saw the video of Afridi's hit and I must say I havent seen anything bigger then this one
Posted by: Andrew File at January 21, 2009 3:36 PM
I seem to remember a hit in the Australian Domestic Twenty20 competition at I think the WACA when a player hooked a ball out of the ground onto the Golf Course, and the fielding Captain said it was bigger than any Adam Gilchrist has hit. It's on youtube somwhere
Posted by: dan b at January 21, 2009 4:13 PM
I can't say for sure how far it went, but Gayle's strike to midwicket off of Gillespie in Napier that went into the adjoining neighborhood was pretty well beasted. He hit some sixes during this tour that looked like they were never coming down.
Posted by: Hari at January 21, 2009 7:06 PM
There are so many big hits that one really cannot measure the distance of. For example, the one by Cairns into the Car park at Nairobi Gymkhana off Kumble (ICC Champions Trophy - 2000) or for that matter, any of the hits which travel out of the stadium. Its really impossible to say unless there is some way of measuring the distance the ball travels from the bat, taking into account the velocity of the ball, the swing of the bat and rest of the physics into account. That would give us a far accurate picture.
Posted by: Squib at January 21, 2009 7:21 PM
Wow Hari - what a terrific insight. You really entered into the spirit of the discussion. I think we all know that it is speculative but just let yourself take a risk for once without getting bogged down in a GPS/physics discussion. Lighten up! For mine, wasn't there one that hit the roof of the Telstra Dome?
Posted by: SurgeNZ at January 21, 2009 7:55 PM
I can recall Mark Waugh putting one of the Windians up a couple of levels (ie: a loooong way) at the 'G' when he got that (then) record score in '01... also saw Richard Reid put one over the Basin scoreboard and (well) up Adelaide Rd back in the day when he and a certain M Crowe were opening for us in the Shell Cup... might have been off Murphy Sua (???). The hardest hit I think I've ever seen was Jayasuriya at the Gabba hitting G McGrath with a six that went about ten rows back but barely seemed to get a metre off the ground the whole way! And yes Hari, I know that isn't 'physically' possible, but... lol
Posted by: Hari at January 21, 2009 8:13 PM
In this age of snickos, speedometers and hot spots, I don't think it'll be too difficult to measure the distance the ball travels from the bat based on its impact. Agreed, its nice to have everyone's opinions on what they feel the biggest hit was. People will invariably resort to their favorite hits from players they have known. But, its just too subjective and there'll be no comparative standards to measure them. It'll really be good if such a technology is available to TV viewers. :) It would atleast give us something good to fight about :) The television commentators might enjoy it too.. :)
Posted by: Hari at January 21, 2009 8:22 PM
No offense to people coming up with their own version of their favorite hits. :) Mine would be Chris Cairns smashing the winning hit into the trees outside the stadium off Ntini in the 4th ODI of 2004 series at Dunedin.
Posted by: Brodie at January 21, 2009 8:31 PM
Mike Hussey hit the roof at the telstra dome... but Cairns vs Tuffnell at trentbridge was HUGE even alec stewart was impressed with it, as you can hear over the stump microphone
Posted by: Bonzo Dog at January 21, 2009 9:31 PM
Didn't the great Sir Vivian Richards blast a Willie Watson delevery out of the Mt Eden postal zone in a 1980s tour game (WI vs the Aucks) at the Eden Park Outer Oval? I remember hearing it on the radio when I was a young fella and the comentators went nuts (it may have been Allan Mac). I love stuff like that.
When I played a bit of club cricket in Yorkshire I was at fine leg when this west indian chap in the opposition smashed the two biggest sixes I have ever seen....over my head. I swear that they were still going up when they cleared the boundry and the subsequent row of well aged trees. Magic stuff.
Posted by: Andrew McLean at January 21, 2009 9:32 PM
Ross Taylor is rumoured to have put one on the roof of the RA Vance stand at the Basin. Assuming it's true Paul, could you send one of the Karori Beige crew down there to work out the distance?
Posted by: Tumo at January 21, 2009 10:49 PM
Ten Cents, in the Bolton v Stone case, it went just out of the ground, about 85m-ish. we studied it in a2 law last year. might effort though, knocked her clean out!
Posted by: Marcus at January 21, 2009 11:28 PM
Re. Bolton vs. Stone, I think the defendant was found not liable because hits like that only rarely happened, and the club had put up a fence anyway.
Do those hits that have been measured include only shots that have hit the ground? Because Mark Waugh's blow off Vettori landed onto the rook of the Lille-Marsh stand, and considering the size of the outfield at the WACA and the height of the stand, I have to think that if that ball had landed, it would have been at least as big as any of Morkel's, Singh's, Misbah's or Taylor's.
I also remember Tom Moody hitting some monsters at one of the grounds in Asia- I think one of them wen out of the ground.
Posted by: Pete at January 22, 2009 1:49 AM
Corey Anderson from Canterbury. Easy.
Posted by: Dave at January 22, 2009 2:23 AM
I think the Mark Waugh shot at the WACA that landed on top of the Lillee-Marsh stand would have to go close. The distance would be reduced coz it ended up on the roof but still...
Posted by: Nick at January 22, 2009 2:43 AM
surely several of Astle's 6s in his 222 were well over the 100m mark?
and my 6 2 weekends ago at my mates backyard was at least 24m, one of the biggest hits seen at his house, but also resulted in my dismissal.
Posted by: Stephen at January 22, 2009 2:57 AM
Saw Brett Lee hit Fidel Edwards out of the Gabba once with a monstrous slog once, during one of the Windies' more recent tours...
Posted by: Lefty at January 22, 2009 5:42 AM
haha Nick, we used to have a rule like that. too far and your out, keyword: control :D
Posted by: Reg Corres at January 22, 2009 8:06 AM
The biggest six I have ever seen hit was by Garfield Charles, a West Indian fella who now coaches in Canterbury. For those of you who know Timaru Boys High School, he hit one from the Rectory straight down the ground and over the Bull Block. That is a massive six, easily over 100 metres.
Posted by: Phil at January 22, 2009 6:12 PM
I know there have been some mighty hitters over the years, but I just don't think anyone could top Cairns (Chris that is, not Lance - although they probably didn't have a six-and-out rule in their backyard!)
Posted by: Eddie H-H at January 23, 2009 11:21 PM
I also remember a Brett Lee hit that went out of the stadium and into some nets that's one of the biggest hits I have ever seen as well as Albie Morkel's 124m hit at the world t20
Posted by: sreevatsa at January 24, 2009 7:59 AM
I remember bret lee hitting zaheer khan out of nairobi gymakhana, ICC knock out trophy,99/00
Posted by: Formerly from the south at January 25, 2009 11:45 PM
@Reg Corres, Garfeild used to my coach in Christchurch and I can confirm his hitting power, unfortunately his eyes aren't what they used to be the last time I bowled him a wrongun he took it square in the nuts!!
Posted by: Scott at January 29, 2009 2:20 AM
Hey Reg, the same Garfield who now coaches at East Shirley? He is a great coach i play in the 2b team there now, i might have to let him know about this ;)
Samir Chopra lives in Brooklyn and teaches Computer Science and Philosophy at the City University of New York; his academic interests include the philosophical foundations of artificial intelligence and the politics of technology. In his third undergraduate year, he captained Mathematics in the departmental cricket competition (and lost to Chemistry in the first round). Samir played C-grade cricket in Sydney and makes guest appearances for his old club when possible (and desirable). Samir runs the blog Eye on Cricket and the cricket page at The Faster Times.
Paul Ford is a co-founder of the New Zealand cricket supporters' cult, the Beige Brigade. He was once described by a current New Zealand cricketer as "looking spastic" even mucking about with an Excalibur and a tennis ball in the backyard. Paul bowls right-armed Nathan Astlesque "nudes", his batting would make Ewen Chatfield look elegant, and he is a committed fielder. He sometimes grows a beard to hide his double chin and inhabits a periphery of cricket that Cricinfo is proud to be glimpsing through this blog.
Stephen Gelb grew up in Cape Town, a short walk from the beautiful Newlands ground. Always a better student of the game than player, his passion for cricket survived eight years as a student in Canada, where he learned to love baseball too. He lives in Johannesburg doing economic research at The EDGE Institute and teaching at Wits University.
Mike Holmans, a database consultant by profession, has spent thirty summers (and a few winters) going to the cricket. Brought up in one and working in the other, his dearest wish is for a season to end with Yorkshire winning the county championship by beating runners-up Middlesex by one wicket with five minutes to go. If it’s also a summer when England win the Ashes, so much the better.
Born in Colombo, educated at Oxford and now living in Brisbane - Michael Jeh (Fox) is a cricket lover with a global perspective on the game. An Oxford Blue who played first-class cricket, he is a Playing Member of the MCC and still plays grade cricket. His views on cricket might best be described as those of a "modern traditionalist". Michael now works closely with elite athletes in his job as a manager at Griffith University in Queensland.
Saad Shafqat takes special pride that his cricket-watching life began during the three-month interval between Javed Miandad's debut Test in Lahore and Imran Khan's 12-wicket haul at Sydney. Although a practicing neurologist based in Karachi, cricket has never been far from his activities. He has co-authored Javed Miandad’s autobiography Cutting Edge and has been a contributor to Cricinfo since 2005. His regular column Reverse Swing appears fortnightly in Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English daily.
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