Watch: Thisara Perera has etched himself into the record books, becoming the first Sri Lankan to establish the rare feat of blasting six sixes in a single over, falling one ball short of matching the record for the fastest List A fifty in the process.
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Perera, one of Sri Lanka’s most explosive batsmen, has form, having smashed 30 runs of a Lanka Premier League over at the end of 2020. But this was something else entirely.
He came in in the 38th over of a game reduced to 41 overs a side by rain. Having taken three balls to get his eye in, he then smashed eight sixes off his last 10 balls, including six in a row off the last over, bowled by Dilhan Cooray, who ended with unsightly figures of 4-0-73-0.
The record for the fastest List A fifty is held by another Sri Lankan, Kaushalya Weeraratne, who hit five sixes in an over as part of a 12-ball half century back in 2005.
Strangely, Perera has already been involved in a game in which six sixes in an over were hit this month, with him only able to watch as Kieron Pollard smashed Akila Dananjaya for 36 runs in six balls in a West Indies-Sri Lanka T20I on March 3.
On this occasion, Perera’s onslaught went in vain, with the rain returning 17 overs into Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club’s chase of 319 to win. With Sri Lanka Army Sports Club having already reduced their opponents to 73-6, it marked a lucky escape.
