The cricket world was saddened on 17 July 2026 to hear of the passing at his home in Barbados of Sir Garfield Sobers, one of the greatest all-rounders in world cricket and a man who was chosen by Wisden, alongside Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Viv Richards and Shane Warne, as one of the Five Greatest Cricketers of the Twentieth Century.
Amongst Garry’s long list of stellar achievements came on 31 August 1968 at Swansea when he became the first-ever batter to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket. His feat, for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan, was captured by BBC Wales television cameras, although it was quite by chance and some quick thinking from the television production team.
As it regularly did during the 1960s, BBC Wales covered Glamorgan’s three-day County Championship matches with the footage at the weekend being used as an opt-out for those tuned into Welsh transmitters during the BBC Network Grandstand programme on Saturday afternoons. On this particular day, footage of Nottinghamshire’s first innings was broadcast on Welsh transmitters before lunch before accompanying the horse racing and other sports which the programme was covering. After BBC Network’s final visit around 5pm to the Australian’s match against a Rest of the World XI at Lord’s, a message was sent to John Norman, the BBC Wales Director at St. Helen’s, to say that they could all stand down.
But John, encouraged by cameraman John Lewis and commentator Wilf Wooller sensed that with Gary now at the crease and a declaration on the horizon, something special might happen so they decided to keep recording. The staff at the relay station high above Port Talbot as well as Derek Griffin, recording the game back at Broadcasting House in Cardiff, also agreed to carry on, and they duly captured arguably the most famous piece of TV footage in cricket as Garry launched into Malcolm Nash’s occasional left-arm-spin and hit him for six sixes.
There was another piece of good luck with the fifth delivery when Roger Davis caught the ball at long-off but, in so doing, fell backwards over the ropes. Umpires Eddie Phillipson and John Langridge conferred for a minute or so as the MCC had amended the laws about instances such as this and from the start of the 1968 season ruled that if a player fell over the boundary whilst completing a catch, a six should be recorded. They duly did so before the famous final delivery from Nash, bowling at the Pavilion End, which Garry pulled high over mid-wicket with Wilf Wooller’s commentary saying “He’s done it, he’s done it and it’s gone all the way to Swansea!”