Tim Southee on course to become Test cricket's highest six-hitter

Tim Southee

It is always very difficult to imagine a number eight batsman who is basically a tail-ender suddenly challenge some of the best batsmen in the business when it comes to hitting most number of sixes and finding his way into the top 10 of the elite list.

New Zealand bowler Tim Southee will surprise you as he has already smashed 45 sixes in his short career and threatens the record of former Australian legend Adam Gilchrist who has a century of sixes to his name.

What makes Tim Southee’s name getting etched in that list even more special is the fact that the list contains some of the best batsman in the business such as Adam Gilchrist, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara where Southee stands at number 6.

The lanky Kiwi batsman does know ho to wield his willow and though he is ranked second in the list of number 8 batsman with most number of sixes where Pakistan legend Wasim Akram tops the list with 50 sixes, it is only a matter of time before Southee takes over.

But when you look into the statistics, Gilchrist who has hit the most number of sixes got his 100th six in his 137th innings. If Southee continues at the rate he is hitting the big ones, then by the time he plays his 137th innings he would have already smashed 121 sixes.

Though it remains to be seen whether Southee can become the number one which supposedly should be easy since the top 5 have either retired or are not in the best of forms, but then if Southee breaks the record then probably it will be cricket’s most amusing record where a tail-ender sits pretty on the top in a list supposed to be dominated by batsman.

Career records of the top five six hitters when they hit their 45th six (end of game)

Rank	Career Sixes	Player	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	50s	6s
1	100	Adam Gilchrist	64	3073	60.25	9	16	45
2	97	Jacques Kallis	145	6689	54.82	19	34	45
3	91	Virender Sehwag	92	4760	53.48	14	13	41
4	90	Chris Gayle	134	5109	39.60	08	30	47
5	88	Brian Lara	161	7921	50.45	20	38	47
35	45	Tim Southee	51	876	19.46	0	2	45