It is not just the national Cricket team that is making history in New Zealand at present, as they make their preparations to face the Aussies in Sunday's Cricket World Cup final, as another of their fine batch of batsman has been busy smashing the records. 28-year-old Colin Munro has set the record for the most sixes hit in an individual innings in a first-class match. His punishing double century included a quite staggering 23 sixes for his Auckland side, as he beat the previous record by some seven sixes.
The New Zealander powerhouse may be wishing that he was in the side looking to claim their first World Cup title, but he certainly showed that he has plenty to offer to the game as he hit 281 runs in total off just 167 balls in the match against Central Districts.
His 'target' to break the old record was still a challenging 16 sixes, which had been achieved by four players in the past. The names that have been removed from the records being Andrew Symonds, Jesse Ryder, Mukhtar Ali and Graham Napier. There have been other players who have hit 16 sixes in an ODI match, including Rohit Sharma, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle. Gayle has also hit 17 sixes in an IPL match in the T20 format of the game.
Munro may be familiar to Worcestershire County Cricket Club fans, as he has featured in their T20 Blast side in the past and is expected to hook up with his British teammates again for this season's event. After hearing of his exploits in his homeland, there may be plenty of supporters ducking for cover when he plays for his adopted county in the competition and they will have to ensure that there are plenty of boxes of spare balls to finish off the games, if he continues his excellent form with the bat.
Munro has something in common with New Zealand's hero against the South Africans on Tuesday, Grant Elliott (besides being able to hit a six or two), as he too was born in South Africa, but has played international cricket for the Kiwis. He played in their under-19 side and has played for the senior side in one Test match so far, besides featuring in seven one-day international matches back in 2013. His last appearance for NZ was in the World Twenty20 tournament last year.
