Longest Six in Cricket History: The Biggest Hits Ever Recorded

Brett Lee was a fast bowler, not a batter, and he’s still on this list because of one swing against South Africa that cleared the ropes by a distance normally reserved for specialist power-hitters. That’s the thing about the longest sixes in cricket: the names aren’t always who you’d expect, and the numbers aren’t always as solid as they look.

Why measuring sixes is complicated

Cricket has no baseball-style unified system for tracking six distances across formats and venues. Broadcasters use different graphics packages, grounds vary wildly in shape and size, and ball-tracking tech has changed a lot over the decades. Treat any “longest sixes ever” list as the best available estimate, not a verified record book.

Even with that caveat, some hits are obviously in a different category from the rest, whatever the exact number attached to them.

Notable big-hitters and their landmark sixes

Batter	Country	Known For
Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	Repeatedly clearing large grounds in international cricket; long regarded as cricket’s biggest hitter
Brett Lee	Australia	Smashed a massive six against South Africa during a lower-order cameo that was measured in the 110m+ range
Liam Livingstone	England	Multiple sixes in T20Is and The Hundred tracked at 110–115 metres
Glenn Maxwell	Australia	Consistent distance hitter across all formats
Kieron Pollard	West Indies	Known for extraordinary raw power in T20 cricket globally
David Miller	South Africa	Several sixes measured beyond 100 metres in IPL and international cricket

What the distances actually mean

A six that travels 100 metres is already a big deal. Most sixes in professional cricket land somewhere between 70 and 95 metres. Anything reliably tracked past 105 metres puts a batter in elite company. Hits near or beyond 120 metres are rare enough that they push against what’s physically possible with a bat and ball.

Timing, bat speed, and launch angle do most of the work, but altitude matters too. Grounds at elevation in parts of South Africa and the Caribbean give the ball extra carry because the air is thinner.

The T20 era effect

T20 cricket has concentrated the big-hitting like no other format. Batters train specifically for power now, bats come with thicker edges and bigger sweet spots than a generation ago, and fielding restrictions during powerplays and death overs reward attacking shots over caution. Put those together and the average six in modern T20 travels further than it did even fifteen years ago.

Afridi’s case for the crown

Shahid Afridi’s name comes up first in almost any conversation about the biggest hitters cricket has produced. He built that reputation in an era with far less precise tracking data than today, clearing large grounds often enough that teammates and opponents alike talked about his power as something separate from ordinary six-hitting.