How does one mark a return to international cricket after 18 months on the sidelines? Well, if you’re Jimmy Neesham, you take 34 runs from an over!
The New Zealand all-rounder, playing his first ODI since June 2017, launched into Thisara Perera as the Kiwis kick-started their three-match series against Sri Lanka by piling on a giant total of 371/7 in the opening game at Mount Maunganui.
Neesham belted five sixes off the first five legitimate deliveries of the 49th over – and with Perera also having been no-balled for an above waist height full toss in between, the left-hander was poised to break the world record for the most runs in a single over.
Perera, who himself holds the record for the second-most runs hit off an over, spared himself the ignominy by keeping Neesham down to one run off the final ball.
Neesham, a regular fixture in franchise T20 cricket across the globe, has been out of favour with the national selectors across all formats, and didn’t play a single international match through 2018.
However, the 28-year-old will now boast of the joint third-biggest tally of runs scored in a single over in 50-over cricket.
Neesham was’nt done for the day – he went on to take 3/38 from eight overs as New Zealand claimed a 45-run win by bowling the Lankans out for 326 in reply.
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