Stats: Batsmen who have hit three or more sixes in consecutive balls in Test cricket

Ben Stokes played one of the best knocks of his career scoring a century in seam friendly conditions to power his side’s total to 353 at The Oval in the 3rd Test match against South Africa. Stokes scored 112 in 153 with 9 fours and 4 sixes during the innings. He walked out to bat at 120/4 and shared fifty-run stands with Alastair Cook and Jonny Bairstow and batted out with the tailenders to get to the hundred.

Stokes, who was batting on 91 while his side already lost 9 wickets, took on the left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj and slogged him on the leg-side on the 2nd ball of the 102nd over. He couldn’t muscle the ball enough to clear the fence but South African skipper Faf du Plessis, who was as the fence lost his balance after taking the catch and ended up touching the boundary line which resulted in 6 runs to the batsman.

The allrounder hit another big one on the very next ball; this time down the ground to bring up his 5th century in Test cricket. He made it 3 sixes in 3 balls as he hit one over deep square leg. Thus Stokes became only the 12th player in Test history to hit 3 or more sixes in consecutive balls and the 2nd England player after Wally Hammond. The last player to hit 3 consecutive sixes in Tests was Tim Southee in 2014 against Pakistan.

Out of the 12, only three players have managed to hit sixes off consecutive balls in this format. India’s Kapil Dev was the first to accomplish that when he hit 4 consecutive sixes in 1990 at the Lord’s against England. It was a delicate position as the Indian team needed 24 runs to avoid the follow-on with only one wicket in hand. Only Shahid Afridi in 2006 and AB de Villiers in 2009 managed to repeat the 4 sixes feat first completed by Kapil.

MS Dhoni closely missed out on the unique feat when he hit 3 sixes in 3 balls against West Indies in 2006 but was ruled out controversially when he hit his 4th six. The replays were inclusive to decide as they were unsure if the fielder Darren Ganga touched the boundary rope and Umpires went with the fielder’s call after Brian Lara interfered and India’s captain Rahul Dravid declaring the innings to avoid further wastage in time.

Most sixes off consecutive deliveries by a player in Test cricket:

(Stats as on July 28, 2017)