Jimmy Neesham marked his return to the New Zealand ODI side by taking Thisara Perera for 34 runs in an over.

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.

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.

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.