Napier goes top of Sixes League

1 July 2008

Graham Napier smashed 25 maximums in June to go top of the sixes league

Essex all-rounder Graham Napier has moved to the top of the Sky Sports Sixes League after clearing the ropes 25 times in June.

Napier’s tally was boosted by his record-breaking 16 sixes in his unbeaten 152 against Sussex in the Twenty20 Cup last week.

Napier totals 26 maximums for the season from just 188 balls, while Kent’s Azhar Mahmood lies second with 18 sixes from 254 deliveries and David Sales of Northamptonshire sits third having cleared the boundary on 17 occasions.

The Sky Sports Sixes League ranks the top 10 batsmen that have hit the most sixes in Friends Provident, Twenty20 Cup and NatWest Pro40 matches.

It provides batsmen with another incentive for big-hitting with £2,000 and the Sixes trophy presented to the winner, plus awards for each month’s big hitter.

Last year Graeme Hick hit 28 sixes from 850 deliveries, finishing four maximums ahead of second-placed Luke Wright.

Past winners include Mark Ealham in 2004 with 20 off 359 deliveries, Ian Blackwell in 2005 who hit a record 45 sixes off 669 balls and Somerset’s Cameron White who in 2006 smashed 32 off 744.