Boundary (cricket)

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Boundary has two distinct meanings in the sport of cricket.

1 Edge of the field
2 Fours and Sixes
3 Records
- 3.1 Sixes
4 References

[edit] Edge of the field

The boundary is the edge of the playing field, or the physical object marking the edge of the field, such as a rope or fence. If the physical object is moved during play (such as by a fielder sliding into the rope) the boundary is considered to remain at the point where that object first stood.

When the cricket ball is inside the boundary, it is in play. When the ball is touching the boundary, beyond the boundary, or being touched by a fielder who is himself either touching or beyond the boundary, it is out of play and the batting side usually scores 4 or 6 runs for hitting the ball out of play. Because of this rule, fielders near the boundary attempting to intercept the ball often flick the ball back in to the field of play rather than pick it up directly, and then return to the field to pick it up after having slid into the boundary.

[edit] Fours and Sixes

A boundary is also the scoring of four or six runs from a single delivery by the ball reaching the boundary of the field. These events are known as a four or a six respectively, and can be considered analogous to a home run in baseball.

Four runs are scored if the ball bounces before touching or going over the edge of the field and six runs if it does not bounce. When this happens the batsman does not have to run, the runs are automatically added to his and his team's score and the ball becomes dead. If the ball did not touch the bat or a hand holding the bat, four runs are scored as the relevant type of extra instead; but six runs cannot be scored as extras, even if the ball clears the boundary (which would be highly unlikely anyway).

Four runs can also be scored by hitting the ball into the outfield and running between the wickets four times, although this is rare as there is usually not enough time to do so before a fielder returns the ball. This is referred to as an 'all run four' and is not considered a boundary. It is theoretically possible to score five (or more) runs in this way, but this is extremely rare and would usually require overthrows by the fielding team.

Four runs can also be scored as overthrows, if a fielder gathers the ball and then throws it so that no other fielder can gather it before it reaches the boundary. In this case, the batsman who hit the ball scores however many runs the batsmen had run up to that time, plus four additional runs. If the ball has not come off the bat or hand holding the bat, then the runs are classified as 'extras' and are added to the team's score but not to the score of any individual batsman.

The scoring of a four or six is a significant event, often achieved by a display of skill by the batsman, and is usually greeted by a round of applause from the spectators. Fours can also be scored accidentally as the bowler achieves an edge off the bat, but no fielder is able to catch or gather the ball as it runs to the boundary behind the batsman.

A deliberate four is often scored using an aggressive, attacking stroke of the bat. It signals that the batsman is in an attacking mode, and most often occurs when the batsman has played himself in and the bowlers have begun to tire. As such, the ratio of fours to runs scored by running often rises the longer a batsman bats in one innings.

Bowlers, for their part, sometimes encourage batsmen to attempt to hit fours and sixes by bowling deliveries slightly wider of the off stump than would normally be considered a good line, because a batsman who is batting aggressively and trying to hit fours is more likely to make a mistake and get out.

Fours are not uncommon, and usually something in the range of 10 to 100 fours will be scored in the course of a cricket match. Sixes are relatively uncommon, and usually fewer than 10, and maybe none , will be scored in the course of a match (especially in a test match).

[edit] Records

[edit] Sixes

On August 31, 1968, Gary Sobers became the first man to hit six sixes off a single six-ball over in first-class cricket.^[1] The over was bowled by Malcolm Nash in Nottinghamshire's first innings against Glamorgan in Swansea. Nash was a seam bowler but—somewhat rashly, as it turned out—decided to try his arm at spin bowling. This achievement was caught on film.^[2] The feat was repeated by Ravi Shastri in 1984, playing for Bombay against Baroda, in Bombay

On March 16th, 2007, in a match between South Africa and the Netherlands at the ICC Cricket World Cup, Herschelle Gibbs became the first person to hit six sixes of an over in a One Day International match. The over was bowled by Dutch bowler Daan van Bunge.^[3]

In May 2004, New Zealand player Chris Cairns broke the record for the number of sixes recorded by an individual player in Test matches. Playing for the Black Caps in the first Test in the 2004 series against England at Lord's in London, Cairns took the new record total to 86 sixes before retiring from Test cricket. Adam Gilchrist subsequently broke this record and has 97 Test sixes as of 5th January 2007.

The One-day International record for most sixes hit in an innings is held by Sanath Jayasuriya who hit 11 sixes against Pakistan in Singapore in April 1996. This 11 sixes record was equaled later that same year by Shahid Afridi against Sri Lanka in his first ODI innings in which he also broke the record for the fastest ODI century.

The record for most sixes in a Test Match innings is 12, which was achieved by Pakistani all-rounder Wasim Akram during a 257-run innings against Zimbabwe.

The One-day International record for most sixes hit in a career is held by Shahid Afridi of Pakistan, who has hit 224 sixes as of 7 Feb 2007. Afridi hit the second ball he ever faced in ODI cricket for a six. Batsmen who have hit more than 150 sixes include Sanath Jayasuriya (222) of Sri Lanka and Sourav Ganguly (168) and Sachin Tendulkar (154) of India and Chris Cairns (153) of New Zealand.

The record for the most sixes in a Test Match is 27, which occurred during a 2006 Test Match between Pakistan and India at the famously bowler-hostile Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. In their first innings, Pakistan hit eleven sixes. India hit nine in their first innings. Pakistan's hit seven more sixes in their second innings.