Who was the first cricketer to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket?

Garfield Sobers was the first cricketer to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket.

On 31 August 1968, Sobers achieved the feat while captaining Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at St Helen’s in Swansea. The bowler was Malcolm Nash, who was experimenting with slow left-arm bowling. Sobers hit the first four deliveries for six, was then caught on the boundary from the fifth, but the fielder carried the ball over the boundary line, so the umpire awarded six. Sobers cleared the boundary again from the final ball.

The over produced 36 runs and surpassed Ted Alletson’s long-standing record of 34 runs in an over. It remains one of cricket’s most famous displays of power hitting, especially because it occurred in first-class cricket rather than a modern limited-overs competition.

Ravi Shastri later equalled the achievement for Bombay against Baroda in 1985. Kieron Pollard and Herschelle Gibbs also hit six sixes in an over in shorter-format cricket, but neither was first in first-class cricket.