Watch: Shoaib Bashir conceded 38 runs off a single over to Dan Lawrence in the County Championship today (June 24), including five consecutive sixes making it the joint-most runs ever coming off a single over in first-class cricket.
Lawrence was already on 133 in Surrey's first match back into the County Championship after the May/June break, reaching his second century of the season on Day Two against Worcestershire. Bashir, currently on loan to Worcestershire from Somerset, was bowling his 38th over of the innings as Surrey pushed towards 500.
Lawrence advanced down the track to Bashir's first delivery, hitting the ball straight back over his head, down the ground and over the rope. He gave the next ball the exact same treatment, advancing slightly again but giving himself room to a delivery pitched wider on off stump.
Bashir threw the next ball out wider, with Lawrence slightly surprised by its width and reaching for it, but still able to power down over long on. The fourth ball of the over was tighter on off stump and fuller, but Lawrence was still able to generate enough power to hoist it over deep midwicket. That shot took him past his 150, and closer to a clean sweep of sixes off the over.
The next one was fuller from Bashir and angled into the stumps. Stepping his leg out of the way, Lawrence was able to carve it over the deep midwicket boundary once again. Now withing touching distantce of a full house of sixes, Lawrence needed once more to join the small list of names that have done so. In first-class history, only Sir Garfield Sobers and Ravi Shastri have scored six consecutive sixes in an over.
Bashir switched to round the wicket for his final ball and dragged the ball down way wide of the leg stump. Lawrence attempted a massive slog sweep but missed, with the keeper missing as well and the ball running away down to the boundary. The umpire called a wide, adding five runs to the total for the over, and taking the run tally up to 35 with a legal delivery to come.
Back over the wicket, Bashir went to re-bowl the delivery, but the umpire signalled a no-ball almost imeditately as the batters took a single. That added three to the runs total, with no balls worth two under ECB County Championship regulations.
Finally sending down a legal delivery to finish, the last ball was knocked into the leg side for a dot.
The over is the joint-most expensive in first class history (not counting Bert Vance's 77-run over in the 1998 Shell Trophy), tied with Andrew Flintoff's 38 off Alex Tudor in 1998, which also contained no balls counted for two extra runs.
Watch: Dan Lawrence hits Shaoib Bashir for joint-most expensive first-class over in history
DAN LAWRENCE HAS JUST TAKEN 38 OFF AN OVER pic.twitter.com/QCzsWNaRUI
— Vitality County Championship (@CountyChamp) June 24, 2024
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