Royal Challengers Bangalore and England’s Will Jacks hit five consecutive sixes in an over during a T20 Blast match for Surrey against Middlesex last Thursday. Jacks launched the attack on Middlesex leg-spinner Luke Hollman in the 11th over, dispatching two volleys over long-on and long-off, and hitting a back-foot slap over covers. However, Jacks’ attempt to hit the sixth six in a row with an easy full toss failed, as he lost his shape. Despite missing out on six sixes in an over, Jacks’ incredible innings helped put his team in a comfortable position at 252, before Middlesex chased the target down in 19.2 overs.
After the innings, Jacks said, Laurie (Evans) started [to get the crowd going] and he told me to join in, so I was like why not? I know the ball was in the slot [at 96], just missed out. But you got to go for these shots in this format. Although the high score and Jacks’ brilliant display of cricket were not enough to stop Middlesex, who countered with their own assault, with everyone in the top five contributing runs at over 180 strike rates.
Despite Surrey’s loss, Jacks’ innings had wowed cricket fans and won admiration from around the world. Consecutive sixes of that nature are often carried out with momentum, but Middlesex’s attempt to stop the flow after the third ball of the over by having a chat with the bowler failed. However, such an innings from Jacks was not unexpected, as he had previously earned attention for his aggressive style of play.
The T20 Blast match highlights Surrey’s and Middlesex’s equally impressive performances in the tournament, which currently has Somerset as the only unbeaten team. With several exciting displays of cricket in store for fans, it will be interesting to see which team will claim the title at the end of the T20 Blast.
