It is exactly 13 years till the day that former Proteas opener Herschelle Gibbs broke the record for becoming the first cricketer to hit six sixes in an over in ODI cricket.
The South Africans were opening their 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup account in an encounter with tournament minnows the Netherlands at St Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies.
The Proteas were sent in to bat first with the match reduced to 40 overs after some early rain. They made a horrible start when AB de Villiers was dismissed with only the second delivery.
READ: Proteas in the IPL – will they, won’t they?
Captain Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis got the innings going with a solid 100-run stand for the third wicket, before Gibbs strolled out in the hope of accelerating the Proteas innings towards the end.
He did exactly that in one over off Daan van Bunge’s bowling by hitting him over the boundary six times in a row.
The Proteas would go on to post a massive 353-3 in their 40 overs, with Kallis reaching a century and Gibbs smashing his way to 72 off 40 deliveries.
In reply, the Netherlands never really stood an chance and made their way to 132-9 after 40 overs, handing South Africa a massive 221-run victory.
Until this day Gibbs remains the only player in ODI cricket to have struck six sixes off one over, with Sri Lankan batsman Thisara Perera coming close in 2013 when he managed to hit 35 runs from a Robin Peterson over.
Yuvraj Singh was able to do it once but in T2o cricket, when he dispatched England’s Stuart Broad during a match in Durban in the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup.