On this day: Sobers becomes first-ever cricketer to hit six 6s in an over

Sir Garfield Sobers is widely regarded as one of the finest cricketers to have played the game and his outstanding performance with both bat and ball throughout his career earned him the accolade of one of the greatest all-round cricketers of all-time. On this day in 1968, Sobers achieved an incredible feat as he became the first-ever cricketer to hit six sixes in an over in professional cricket.

Sir Garry was playing for and captaining Nottinghamshire in the County Championship and the bowler at the receiving end was Glamorgan's Malcolm Nash. Nash used to be a left-arm medium fast bowler but he was asked to bowl slow left-armers to stem the run flow.

Sobers swung the first ball over the deep midwicket boundary. The next ball was slightly shorter and Sobers pounced on it. It flew over the deep square leg boundary for another six.

Nash bowled a fuller one but it really didn't matter. Sobers struck it fiercely for a six down the ground.

The bowler was in a fix. He pulled his length back and bowled a short one. Sobers was on a roll. He swung it over the deep fine leg boundary to make it four in four. 

Sobers could've been caught at the long off boundary the next ball but the fielder over-balanced with the ball in hand. Sobers had scored 30 off the first five.

Sobers needed just one six of the last ball to do what was unthinkable at that time. He did it with some style, smashing the ball over the deep square leg boundary.

The southpaw acknowledged the cheers of the crowd by raising his bat. The feat has been matched only once in first-class cricket when Mumbai's Ravi Shastri hit Baroda spinner Tilak Raj for six sixes in 1985.

Only three cricketers have done that in international cricket. South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs did that in the 2007 ICC World Cup while Yuvraj Singh hit six consecutive sixes off Stuart Broad in the World T20 later that year. 

Earlier this year, Kieron Pollard became the third batter in international cricket to register six sixes in an over. 

England's Ross Whiteley, New Zealand's Leo Carter and Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai are also part of the elite club, matching the feat in professional T20 cricket.