da bet sport： Kim Barnett, the former England batsman, started life after county cricket with a bang – or nine – as he blazed his way into the record books
da betsul： Wisden Cricinfo staff21-Apr-2004
Kim Barnett: nine sixes in a row© Getty Images
Kim Barnett, the former England batsman, started life after county cricket with a bang – or nine – as he blazed his way into the record books. Playing for Checkley against Leek in the North Staffordshire/South Cheshire League, Barnett smashed nine consecutive sixes on the opening day of the league season.Barnett, 43, hammered the offspinner Dave Cartledge over the ropes six successivetimes, and then broke the record off the bowling of his old Derbyshiremucker, Tim Tweats, hitting three more sixes to make it nine in a row.It may have been a league record, but in the annals of the game, there are in fact two records of two players striking 11 consecutive maximums. The first is G Ivanoff for Pymble v Berowra in Australia in 1965-66, and the other is R Kelly – not the chart-topping pop singer – for Buckland St Mary versus Taunton Casuals in 1993.Even though the boundaries were no shorter than the minimum 50 yardsrequired for county games, Barnett found the small Leek ground to hisliking. “The outfield was a bit boggy so it wasn’t easy to score runs alongthe ground so the short boundary was inviting,” he told the . “Throughout my county career I was known mainly as anoff-side player, but all my sixes came on the legside. At the end of the over my partner Gavin Carr came up and asked whether I had done anything like thatbefore. I just laughed because you don’t hit the bowlers I faced in myfirst-class career for six sixes in an over.”Barnett also added that it could, and should, have been more than just thenine sixes. “Gavin played out a maiden and Leek brought on Tim [Tweats]who was on a hiding to nothing. The first three balls disappeared for six,the fourth was the worst delivery of the lot, but I only managed to clog itfor a first-bounce four.” Some people are just never satisfied …
