Stats: More Sixes Than Tests Played - Tim Southee above McCullum in the table

Tim Southee (R) has a better six-scoring rate in Test cricket than his captain, Brendon McCullum (L)

Test Cricket tests your patience, technique, mental strength and ability to spend hours on the crease like no other form of cricket. In recent years, there has been a surge of aggression in cricket mainly due to the introduction of Twenty20 Cricket and more inclination to make batting pitches, especially in limited formats.

Despite all that attacking instincts being developed in batsmen, Test cricket has still those traces associated with the longer format.

In the first Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Dunedin, McCullum became the second person to hit 100 sixes in Test cricket. It was his 98th match and he equalled the record hitherto solely held by Adam Gilchrist of 100 sixes in 96 matches.

Both these aggressive batsmen have more sixes than the tests played. But how many other players have done so – hit more sixes than the Test matches they played in. Well, the answer is ‘not many’.

Let us see the table below with all those players who have hit at least 0.75 sixes per match, i.e, 3 sixes in 4 Test matches on average. The list is good for all 747 players who have played at least 20 Test matches.

Sr. No.	Player	Mat	Inns	4s	6s	6s/Match
1	Shahid Afridi (Pak)	27	48	220	52	1.93
2	CL Cairns (NZ)	62	104	365	87	1.40
3	TG Southee (NZ)	45	73	109	55	1.22
4	Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak)	61	106	438	67	1.10
5	A Symonds (Aus)	26	41	154	28	1.08
6	AC Gilchrist (Aus)	96	137	677	100	1.04
7	A Flintoff (Eng/ICC)	79	130	513	82	1.04
8	Mohammad Rafique (Ban)	33	63	110	34	1.03
9	BB McCullum (NZ)	98	170	747	100	1.02
10	CD McMillan (NZ)	55	91	367	54	0.98
11	KC Bland (SA)	21	39	137+	20	0.95
12	CH Gayle (WI)	103	182	1046	98	0.95
13	DM Bravo (WI)	40	73	331	36	0.90
14	DJG Sammy (WI)	38	63	157	34	0.89
15	V Sehwag (ICC/India)	104	180	1233	91	0.88
16	DA Warner (Aus)	47	88	516	41	0.87
17	MS Dhoni (India)	90	144	544	78	0.87
18	Haroon Rasheed (Pak)	23	36	112+	19	0.83
19	BJ Haddin (Aus)	66	112	363	54	0.82
20	ML Hayden (Aus)	103	184	1049	82	0.80
21	PG Fulton (NZ)	23	39	117	18	0.78
22	KP Pietersen (Eng)	104	181	985	81	0.78
23	NS Sidhu (India)	51	78	358+	38	0.75

 

There are 23 players with more than 0.75 sixes per match. New Zealand 5, Australia 5, Pakistan 3, India 3, West Indies 3, England 2, South Africa 1 and Bangladesh 1.

There are only 9 Players with more sixes than Tests. 3 of them are from New Zealand, 2 each from Australia and Pakistan, and one each from Bangladesh and England.

Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are the only teams with no player in this list. 

Shahid Afridi leads the table with almost 2 sixes per match in his 27 Test matches.

Surprisingly, Tim Southee is at number 3 with 1.22 sixes per match for his 55 career sixes.

Another surprise entry is Misbah-ul-Haq at No. 4, but one should never forget him being the joint record holder for the fastest century in Tests.

Brendon McCullum is the last man to have more sixes than matches (ratio). 

There are 5 players to have more sixes than 90. Besides Gilchrist and McCullum, Gayle 98, Kallis 97 and Sehwag 91 are the next three entries.