5 players who didn’t hit a six in their ODI career

The One-Day International Cricket, with a history of nearly five decades, has evolved very quickly and set new requirements for both batsmen and bowlers. In the present day, the batsmen are needed to score at brisk strike rate and the big-hitting ability is appreciated.

However, in the initial years of the format, the top order batsmen were pushed to defensive mode before the middle-order batters took the control. Hence, many of them failed to hit big shots like few of the lower-order batters despite playing a decent number of the match.

Here we look at top five players who failed to hit in ODI cricket be it in terms of runs, matches or innings:

5. Geoff Boycott – 1082 runs

Geoffrey Boycott has a good record in the ODI format in the limited matches he played. The former England batsman struck a hundred and 9 fifties across the 36 ODIs he played. Boycott amassed 1082 runs at a solid average of 36.06 in the 34 innings.

Boycott, known for his old school batting, scored runs at a strike rate of only 53.56 which was decent enough for the opening batters during the 60-over ODIs held in the 1970s. Boycott hardly known for big-hitting failed to hit even one six through his ODI career.

Even in Test cricket, he managed to hit only 8 sixes in the 108 matches despite scoring 8114 runs. Boycott struck only 84 fours in ODIs which is just 31% of his career aggregated. The legendary batsman remains as one of the three players to have ended their ODI career without hitting a six despite scoring over 1000 runs.

4. Glenn McGrath – 250 matches

Glenn McGrath is not much known for his batting skill as he managed to score only 115 runs in his 250-match ODI career at an average of 3.83 only. McGrath hit only 7 fours across the 68 innings he batted in this format but never stuck a six. The Australian scored as many as 6 runs in an ODI inning only on seven instances. The legendary pacer remains as the only player to have featured in more than 200 ODIs without hitting a six.

In terms of innings batted, McGrath is one of the five players to have batted more than 50 times without a six in this format. Glenn McGrath played spent nearly 15 years in International cricket but could only hit one six in the 208 innings across 376 appearances. McGrath aggregated 761 runs in his International career at 6.44 runs per dismissal. Interestingly, he picked up 949 International wickets; 188 less than his aggregate with the bat.

McGrath’s lone six came during the 2004 Gabba Test where he cleared the boundary at the deep square-leg region in the bowling of Daniel Vettori. He scored 61 from 92 balls during that innings which turned out to be his only score above 40 runs in his International career. No player other than Glenn McGrath has played 250+ matches in International cricket having hit one or fewer sixes in their career.

3. Dion Ebrahim – 1443 runs

Dion Ebrahim couldn’t make a great impact in the ODI format despite playing a total of 82 ODIs between 2001 and 2005. He aggregated 1443 runs in 76 innings at a low average of 20.61 and 56.81 strike rate. Ebrahim hit four fifties and a century during his 4-year long ODI career. His best performances came during the 2001 ODI series in Zimbabwe where he scored 121 and 84 in successive matches which are his top two individual scores in ODIs.

He was adjudged player of the matches in the two matches and also got the player of the series award for being the top-scorer in Zimbabwe’s 3-0 victory. Dion Ebrahim failed to hit even one six during his ODI career and stands as one of the three players with 1000+ ODI runs without smashing a maximum. His 1443 runs are the 2nd most by any player in the ODI format without hitting a six. Ebrahim never scored a six in Test cricket either where he scored 1225 runs across 29 matches.

His 2668 runs in International cricket are the 2nd most for any player without a six. Vijay Manjrekar leads the list 3208 runs; all of them coming being scored in the Test format only. The Zimbabwe player featured in 111 Internationals without hitting a six.

It makes him one of the seven players to have appeared in over 100 International matches without a six. The remaining six players took no less than 148 wickets in their International career while Ebrahim bowled only 5 balls.

2. James Anderson – 79 innings

Just like McGrath, the England star bowler James Anderson is not much popular for his batting. His numbers with the bat in ODIs are too poor as he aggregated only 273 runs in 194 matches. Anderson got to bat in 79 innings where he averaged just 7.58 and had the best score of 28 only. The pacer struck 23 fours but never managed to hit a six during his 13-year ODI career that ended with the 2015 World Cup.

Anderson bagged 269 wickets in his 194-match ODI career; only four less than the runs he scored in the format. With the revamp of ODI set-up post the 2015 CWC didn’t let Anderson represent England in limited-overs Internationals in five years since then. Hence, he ends his ODI career without a six and the 79 innings he batted are the 2nd most by any player in this format without ever hitting even one six.

James Anderson hasn’t hit many maximums in Test cricket either. He featured in as many as 151 Test matches till date; the most by any specialist bowler. Anderson hit only three sixes – one each in 2009, 2012 and 2017 respectively.

Anderson’s batting numbers in Tests are better when compared to his batting record in ODI. He scored 1185 runs at 9.63 average with help of a career-best of 81. He also played 19 T20Is where he scored only 1 run across 4 innings.

1. Manoj Prabhakar – 1858 runs

Manoj Prabhakar made his ODI debut in 1987 and batted down the order in the earlier match. However, he was promoted to open the innings later that year during an ODI against Pakistan. Prabhakar scored 106 from 121 balls with 13 fours but Pakistan won the close encounter by 5 wickets. Despite a hundred in his maiden innings as an opener, Prabhakar was slotted to lower order for 5-6 years. However, he got a permanent place as the opening batsman from 1993 in both Tests and ODIs.

Manoj scored 1858 runs across 98 innings he batted in the 130 ODI appearances. He averaged 24.12 per dismissal by scoring two tons and 11 fifties. As an opener alone, Prabhakar scored over 1400 ODI runs at an average of 34 with 13 scores of 50+. He also scored 157 wickets in the format at an average less than 30. Manoj was known to be slightly defensive in his approach as he scored runs at a strike rate of 60.26 only.

Manoj Prabhakar never managed to hit a six in his ODI career and his 1858 runs are the most by any player without hitting a six in this format. The Indian all-rounder is also the only player in ODI cricket to have faced 3000+ balls without even hitting a six. Prabhakar, however, hit four maximums during his 39-match Test career where he scored 1600 with help of a hundred and nine half-centuries.