Sometimes it all goes right, or wrong, depending on the vantage point of batsman or bowler, and one of those moments occurred at the Waca ground in Perth yesterday, when James Anderson met George Bailey on the wicket.
After Bailey torched Anderson in record-tying fashion, we review the five most expensive overs ever recorded in Test cricket.
George Bailey, Australia - 28
The Tasmanian made his Test debut in these Ashes, and yesterday he rocked James Anderson to conclude the hosts’ second innings. His six shots, in order: 4,6,2,4,6,6. The sixes were launched over the sight screen, over long-off and over long-on.
Brian Lara, West Indies - 28
The Trinidadian had held the record alone, until yesterday. Lara launched into left-arm spinner Robin Peterson of South Africa for a 4,6,6,4,4,4 in Johannesburg in 2003, en route to a 202. Three years later, he took on Danish Kaneria and scored 26 off the Pakistan off-spinner. That score is the next one out of this list.
Shahid Afridi, Pakistan - 27
The right-handed all-rounder launched four consecutive sixes off India’s Harbhajan Singh at Lahore in 2006, but with a chance to obliterate Lara’s record he ended the over with a 2 and a 1. It is not his best over, though; he had a 32 in a one-day international versus Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi in 2007.
Craig McMillan, New Zealand - 26
When the stocky Black Caps batsman put together shots of 4,4,4,4,6,4 against the leg-spinner Younis Khan at Hamilton in March 2001, it was a Test record. According to espncricinfo.com, his six sailed “out of the ground and into the car park!”
Mitchell Johnson, Australia - 26
In one of the great all-round Test performances, he pummelled Paul Harris for a 4,4,6,0,6,6 to set the Australia record for runs in an over, but he also scored 96 not out and took eight wickets in a comprehensive Australia victory at Johannesburg.
