Sixes to the max

South Africa broke a record of sorts during the snooze fest that masqueraded as a Test in St. Kitts last week. Seven South Africans hit at least one six while compiling their first-innings total of 543 for 6 against West Indies - a first for Test cricket in an utterly forgettable draw. No more than six batsmen had cleared the boundary in the same innings of a Test before.

Graeme Smith, Alviro Petersen, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn were the six hitters in that innings. De Villiers, in fact, smashed half a dozen sixes, compensating in advance for a six-less 31 off 130 balls in the second dig. Hashim Amla was the only one to miss out. Had Amla hit one, all eight batsmen in South Africa's innings would have had at least one six, setting a new benchmark for the highest proportion of batsmen with a six in an innings.

South Africa's performance in the first innings at Basseterre also equalled the record for the second highest number of sixes in an innings - 15. Two other teams have also hit 15: India against Sri Lanka in Mumbai last year, and Pakistan against New Zealand in Lahore in 2001. The record for most sixes in a Test innings belongs to Australia, who hit 17 against Zimbabwe in Perth. Matthew Hayden contributed 11 on his way to 380.

South Africa have previous when it comes to collective six-hitting. They, along with Pakistan and India, are one of only three teams to have had six batsmen clear the boundary in an innings - they did it during an innings-and-62-run victory against Zimbabwe in Centurion in 2005. South Africa are also the only side to have all their batsmen hit a six in an innings - Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie and Lance Klusener cleared the boundary during South Africa's 600 for 3 against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club in 2001. Klusener hit one even though he made only 8.

Six batsmen have hit a six in an innings in 10 one-day internationals, and all of them occurred in the 21st century. The record, however, is surprisingly from a one-dayer in 1983, when West Indies hosted India in Berbice, Guyana. During West Indies' chase of India's 282, seven batsmen - Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Faoud Bacchus, Larry Gomes, Jeff Dujon and Andy Roberts - cleared the boundary. West Indies, however, fell 27 runs short of the target and suffered their first ODI defeat against India. Their next two defeats against India were in the World Cup that year - in a league match and the final.

While the glass ceiling of six batsmen being the most to clear the boundary in an innings has been broken for Tests and ODIs, it remains in Twenty20 internationals. The mark was set in the Australia-England fixture at the SCG in 2007 - when everyone, with the exception of Michael Clarke, cleared the boundary. There is a conspicuous absence of Twenty20 matches from the last two years, when the number of internationals multiplied, in the top half of the table below. Perhaps it's because bowlers have got cleverer and found ways to reduce the number of sixes.

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