On this day, 17 years ago, Proteas batsman Herschelle Gibbs hit Netherlands spinner Daan van Bunge for six sixes in an over at the 2007 World Cup.

“I was going for it anyway but after the third one I thought, well maybe there’s a little something going on here,” recalled Gibbs, who became the first batsman to achieve the feat in international cricket.

Gibbs went on to score 72 off 40 balls, with Graeme Smith (67 off 59), Jacques Kallis (128* off 109) and Mark Boucher (75* off 31) also cashing in as the Proteas posted 353-3 in their rain-reduced 40 overs.

They then restricted the Netherlands to 132-9 to win by 221 runs.