Scott Gretton: The Rugeley Cricket Club batsman hit six sixes in consecutive overs

He scored a 23-ball fifty with two consecutive sixes after a first-ball wide. Four more maximums followed, including a no-ball, which allowed him to score a run off the last ball of the over and retain the strike.

Gretton smashed four sixes off the first four legal balls of the 11th over to complete his 36-ball century, before completing the incredible batting feat with the remaining two balls over the ropes.

His 150 came off 49 balls with a 19th six, before he was bowled two balls later.

Yet in all the chaos, Gretton had no idea he had hit six sixes in an over, let alone two, until a teammate told him later in the evening.

“There was a wide and a no-ball, and then we lost quite a few balls – a couple on the Matalan roof and quite a few in the car park,” Gretton said.

“They had to go and recover them, which took many years and so they didn’t realize what had happened.”

Legendary West Indies all-rounder Garfield Sobers became the first player to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket – for Nottinghamshire in 1968. Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash was the unlucky bowler.

The feat has been repeated but extremely rare – and may be the first in consecutive overs.

“I’ve heard rumors that nobody has done it before,” added Gretton, who would later play for Bob Willis’ XI at Essex.

“It’s a bit surreal for a small club in Staffordshire to keep going.”