What happened in the first over of Pakistan’s run chase against Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup was unprecedented, but not exactly a surprise. Rookie pacer Dilshan Madhushanka had an absolutely horror start to his side’s defence of 170, bowling a no-ball, wide, wide, 5 wides and another wide before conceding a single of his first legal delivery of the over. He thereby ended up conceding 10 runs in a single delivery. However, while such instances have been very few and far between, it has happened where a bowler has gone for plenty in one ball rather than one over.
Let us have a look at some of those instances where the most runs were scored off a single delivery-
1. Graeme Aldridge to Andre Adams – 12 runs
Andre Adams was normally known for winning matches with the ball, but in 2008, he won the match for the Auckland Aces with the bat, pulling off an escape act that Even the great Houdini would be proud of. Facing Graeme Aldridge with 12 needed if the last over, Adams swing wildly at a full toss which somehow found its way to the boundary rope. What made things interesting that the ball was deemed to be above waist height, which meant that it was declared as a no-ball, much to the shock and chagrin of Aldridge, which also meant that the Aces were awarded 2 runs for that no-ball (as per the rules of the tournament back in the day), which meant that the equation became 6 runs to get off 1 ball. The next ball Aldridge bowled was a length ball which was absolutely wallopped by Adams for 6, thus winning the game and pulling off an absolutely unexpected heist.
2. Matthew Fleming to Shahid Afridi – 12 runs
To this day and age of the game, Shahid Afridi remains the only player to have scored 12 runs off a legal delivery which did not include a no-ball or extras of any sort. This rare and unprecedented event happened at a game between Australia and the rest of the world in an indoor cricket game called the Power League. In this match, the rules were rather quirky, since the game was in the midst of trying new things, which was on full display in the rules, which implied that a batsman would get 8 runs if the ball hit the middle tier, 10 for the top, and 12 if it hit the roof. And Afridi being the destroyer he is, sent a Matthew Fleming delivery flying high into the sky, and would have gone even higher if not for the roof. So the umpire had to call out 12 runs in a signed that was not seen before and after.
3. Rana Naved Ul-Hasan vs Sehwag- 17 runs
The record for conceding the most runs in an ODI game goes to Rana Naved Ul-Hasan, and to make matters worse, he achieved this rather igonominous feat in a game against heated rivals India. It was the 2004 series, and Rana was a relatively new bowler then. Bowling to the likes of Sehwag is a challenge for some of the best bowlers in the world, let alone a rookie. Rana obviously was feeling the heat, and in the sheer pressure of the moment, he went on to bowl 5 no balls in 6 deliveries. To make matters even more worse, Sehwag slapped 3 of those to the boundary. All in all, the over made for some pretty grim viewing. The over went- 4nb, 4nb, 0nb, 0, 4nb, 0nb, 4,2,0,0,1. The fact that Pakistan bowled 20 no balls spared his blushes, but that record still remains.
4. Clint McKay to Travis Birt- 20 runs
And the award for the most expensive ball in any format of the game goes to Clint McKay. The Australian bowler faced carnage in a Big Bash game against the Hobart Hurricanes in the 2012-13 season. McKay at that point was one of the established members of the Australian side and was known for his guile and variations. However, none of those qualities were able to rescue him from what he was about to face. Facing a Travis Birt who had nothing but murder on his mind, Birt went absolutely bonkers in the 5th over of Hobart’s chase, taking McKay apart for 3 back-to-back sixes, from which two were no-balls. Chasing 200, Birt laid waste to McKay in that over. However, McKay did have the last laugh by dismissing him off the very next ball, after Birt completed his 50. The fact that Melbourne also went on to win the game made sure that the most expensive ball in the history of the game was not costly in the larger scheme of things. The ball went- 6, 6nb, 6nb. Some way to have an unwanted record in your name.
