The carnage unfolded in the penultimate over of his team’s innings in the opening ODI against Sri Lanka at the Bay Oval on Thursday, January 3. The runs came in a sequence that read: 6 6 6 6 2nb 6 1, as Neesham finished unbeaten on 47 off 13 balls.

Perera himself has been responsible for 35 runs in an over – South Africa’s Robin Peterson being the unfortunate bowler on that occasion – and he was given a taste of his own medicine. The most runs ever in an over is Herschelle Gibbs’ 36 against the Netherlands, where he struck six sixes.

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The first ball of Perera’s over was swatted away over mid-wicket. The second, an attempted yorker, received the same treatment. The third sailed over the bowler’s head towards the sightscreen, while the fourth, a low full toss, went to the mid-wicket region again.

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Perera went around the wicket, but it was a waist-high no-ball, on which the batsmen ran two. Back on strike, Neesham then struck the free hit for a massive six. He couldn’t make it six sixes in a row, with the low full toss on the right line keeping him quiet.

6⃣6⃣6⃣6⃣6⃣

New Zealand's @JimmyNeesh smashes FIVE SIXES in an over en route to 47no from 13 balls on his ODI comeback!

📰 1st #NZvSL ODI scorecard 👉 https://t.co/D2iCx06iNO
📺 Watch live on Sky Sports Cricket 👉 https://t.co/g9vekCHaqR https://t.co/WhODA28pHK

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) January 3, 2019

It helped take New Zealand to 371/7, with Martin Guptill’s hundred and a Kane Williamson fifty propping up the total as well.

Neesham, the left-hand batsman who last played for New Zealand in June 2017, had a chance to break AB de Villiers’ record for fastest ODI fifty off 16 balls, but ran out of overs. His knock, however, did take the record for highest strike-rate for an innings of more than 10 balls.