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Who are the biggest hitters in the game?

Cric123

School Boy/Girl Captain
With sixes galore this World Cup, me and a friend got round to discussing the biggest hitters we've seen in the game over the last 15 years or so. There were guys like Viv Richards, Lance Cairns but they were just before our time and therefore not included. We are talking about players who hit a very long ball as opposed to just a frequent six hitter.

Justin Kemp
Chris Cairns
Kieron Pollard
Chris Gayle
Travis Birt
Andre Russell
Martin Guptill
Jacob Oram
Yusuf Pathan
Shahid Afridi
Andrew Symonds
Albie Morkel
Mitchell Marsh
Andrew Flintoff
Brett Lee
Shane Lee
Alex Hales
Craig McMillan
Tom Moody
Brendon Julian

These are just some that come to mind now, there are others. There are also some that hit quite a lot of sixes but are not necessarily very long hitters. Dhoni is such a player.

Then there are guys like Matthew Hayden and Lance Klusener who not necessarily hit many sixes but were incredibly fierce hitters of fours.
 
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Antihippy

International Debutant
Maxwell can hit big but I don't really think he's the biggest hitter. He's more of a player who creates absurd angles to pick gaps through or over the infield.

Chris Lynn and ben cutting are pretty monstrous hitters.
 

Cric123

School Boy/Girl Captain
My list wasn't supposed to be strictly just these, they were ones that I could think of at the time of writing. I have seen James Faulkner hit a few big sixes (the 105m and 110m back to back sixes against England last year come to mind) but I would still put him and Doni a tier below the guys I mentioned in the first post. Yes, Watson, Sammy and Cutting are big hitters, particularly Cutting and Sammy. Unlike Watson, they are not as correct a player and therefore probably have the license to hit as big as they can.

I think Jason Holder is going to hit some mammoth sixes in years to come. He hit some big sixes in the World Cup without putting much behind those hits.
 
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jcas0167

International Debutant
I'm pretty sure that James Franklin was reputedly the biggest hitter in the NZ side even ahead of Oram. Glenn Turner also said Chris Harris hit a longer ball than Chris Cairns. In the current NZ side Corey Anderson comes to mind.

Graeme Hick hit a pretty big ball from memory. Clive Lloyd going back outside the 15 year timeframe reputedly hit one of the biggest ever sixes. Lloyd had a massive bat and had several grips on on the handle:

Lloyd's first century that year was against Surrey at the Oval when he scored 109 not out in 146 minutes and contained the biggest hit I have ever seen. The pitch had been laid towards the gasometers and Lloyd was at the Vauxhall end facing Robin Jackman who dropped one short. Jackman later claimed he had slipped, Lloyd said it was an attempted bouncer, but whatever it was Lloyd hooked it over the traffic in Harleyford Road and into the grounds alongside Archbishop Tenison School. David Lloyd, then Lancashire's captain, recalled,the shot in Clive Lloyd's testimonial brochure in 1977 - ``all of 140 yards (I measured it)'' he declared. A few minutes after the shot I went to the point where the ball had departed the ground and where one spectator was still in raptures about it. "I thought at first it was going to land in the seats," he said. "Then I thought it might hit me, but it just kept on going, over my head." He maintained the ball had cleared Harleyford Road and landed on the lawn between the school and Stoddart House. Some years later I asked the Oval groundsman, Harry Brind, about it. He had no doubts about it being the biggest hit at the ground in his years there and estimated it at 150 yards "easy" he said. From the wicket to the edge of the grass, he said, was 95 yards. "Work it out for yourself," he said. I did and reckoned another 40 yards to the railings on the other side of Harleyford Road and as it landed well beyond there, it seemed that 150 yards was about right, which must make it one of the longest hits ever. Certainly, of those I have asked who witnessed it, none has seen anything bigger. Clive himself rates it his biggest hit. "You know when you've hit a ball right from the moment it leaves the bat," he said. "I knew I'd got that one but even so I was surprised at the distance it went."
| Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
 

thierry henry

International Coach
I'd suggest Guptill out of the current NZ side. Not an out and out power-hitter like Anderson but seems to hit them the biggest when he gets it absolutely perfect. Twice on the roof at Wellington including 1 (off Tsotsobe I think) which was about 130m? Just does it with a pure unhurried swing of the bat and hits them high as well as long.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Yeah Guptill hits massive quite often. Anderson will hit it out of the Earths orbit when he times it well enough one day.
 

Cric123

School Boy/Girl Captain
I'm pretty sure that James Franklin was reputedly the biggest hitter in the NZ side even ahead of Oram. Glenn Turner also said Chris Harris hit a longer ball than Chris Cairns. In the current NZ side Corey Anderson comes to mind.

Graeme Hick hit a pretty big ball from memory. Clive Lloyd going back outside the 15 year timeframe reputedly hit one of the biggest ever sixes. Lloyd had a massive bat and had several grips on on the handle:



| Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
You are correct about James Franklin. I am not sure about Harris as I never saw him hit any really big sixes while Cairns hit so many. Hick was indeed a big hitter, as was Brendon Julian, who used to hit many massive shots for Western Australia even in the four day game.
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
With sixes galore this World Cup, me and a friend got round to discussing the biggest hitters we've seen in the game over the last 15 years or so. There were guys like Viv Richards, Lance Cairns but they were just before our time and therefore not included. We are talking about players who hit a very long ball as opposed to just a frequent six hitter.
Why are they not included. They weren't before my time. I immediately thought of Lance as soon as I saw the thread.
He was actually a ****e batsman where a score of 25 was a good effort by him, but you were a fool of a captain if you bowled spin to him.
 

Debris

International 12th Man
Why are they not included. They weren't before my time. I immediately thought of Lance as soon as I saw the thread.
He was actually a ****e batsman where a score of 25 was a good effort by him, but you were a fool of a captain if you bowled spin to him.
Different bats.
 

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