Boundaries play a decisive role putting the opponent under-pressure. 4s and 6s are crucial for posting big totals upfront and they are also prove lethal during the chase. Not many teams play aggressively but AUS, ENG, SA etc are famous for their aggressive approach. ICC Men’s CWC23 have also seen some magnificent hitting in the first 15 games.
Every team has played their 3 matches of the tournament and smashed dozens of boundaries. At the end fo the 15 games of ICC CWC23, 169 sixes have been hit at an average of 11.27 sixes per match. Kusal Mendis from SL is the leading six-hitter of CWC23 with 14 sixes in his three innings against PAK, AUS and SA.
All ten teams playing ICC CWC23 have hit 6s but SL is on top with 27 sixes in thier first three games. They have smashed 9 sixes/match most by any team in their three games. Kusal Mendis is leading from the front with more than 50% sixes than the rest of team SL. He has smashed fourteen 6s in his three innings and stand at the 4th on the highest runs scorer of the tournament.
The next in the queue of the most sixes are SA who are in their sublime form right from the game one. SA have hit 27 sixes in their initial 3 games averaging 9 6s/innings in the ICC Cricket WC 2023. Quinton de Kock is the 3rd highest six-hitter of the ICC CWC 2023, India. He has hit eight 6s and is the only batter with back-to-back centuries in this Men’s CWC 23. He’s also the joint 2nd highest run-scorer of the tournament together with Conwey.
The 3rd on the list is NZ with 24 sixes averaging 8 per innings. Daryll Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra are the 2 Kiwis leading NZ from the front with six 6s each in their 2 and 3 innings respectively so far in ICC Men’s WC 2023. Meanwhile David Conwey has hit four 6s and the highest individual score of the tournament so far which is unbeaten 152 against ENG.
The fourth in the row are the host of ICC Men’s ODI CWC23, India. The Indian opener and the hitman, Rohit Sharma, who is known as the six-hitting machine is the 2nd highest 6 hitter of the tournament. With his eleven 6s, India have scored 19 sixes in all averaging 6.33/innings. There are only two batters with double figure sixes: 1st Kusal Mendis and the 2nd is Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma.
Surprisingly, AFG are not too behind in the list and stand at 5th with the 17 sixes in 3 games of ICC CWC23. Their average is 5.67 sixes per innings. Undoubtedly, Afghan’s best opening batter Rehmanullah Gurbaz has hit six 6s in his 3 innings. While Azmatullah Omarzai hits 5 and stands at the 7th in the most sixes by a batter ranking in this ICC Men’s Cricket Worldcup 23. Their aggression on the field brought them a stunning victory against ENG.
The bazball inventor in cricket and the defender of the ICC CWC19 trophy, England stand at 6th in the list with 14 sixes in 3 games averaging 4.67. DJ Malan and Jonny Bairstow are the 2 prominent Englishmen with five and three 6s respectively. The difficulties in finding boundaries by ENG is a pure evidence of their struggle in the competition. As they have only beaten BAN and lost ot NZ and AFG.
Netherlands, the underdogs, are at the 7th in the list of the most sixes of ICC CWC 2023. So far, in their three games, they have hit 13 sixes averaging 4.33. The Dutch off-spinner, Aryan Dutt, leads them in the six-hitting competition with 4 sixes to his name. Their all-round performance in the WC Qualifiers and now in the CWC23 justifies their inclusion in the ICC Men’s CWC 2023 as they have upset one of the favourites of the tournament: South Africa in the 15th game of the current ICC event.
The next in the list are Bangladesh with 12 sixes in 3 matches averaging 4. They are above PAK and AUS in this 6 hitting competition. Surprisingly, Taskin Ahmed has hit 3 sixes in his 2 innings while Mahmudullah has hit 2 in his only innings in this ICC CWC23, India. They stand at the 7th in the ICC CWC23 Points Table.
The No.2 ranked ICC ODI team, Pakistan has only hit 9 sixes so far in the tournament at the end of game no 15. Pakistan has yet to smash a six in the power play too of the ICC Men’s Cricket WC23. They have only hit 9 sixes in 3 games averaging 3 sixes/innings. That’s why they stand at the 2nd last position in the most sixes list of the CW23. Only Abdullah Shafique and Muhammad Rizwan have hit 3 sixes each for Pakistan in their 2 and 3 innings respectively.
Surprisingly, Australia are at the bottom of the list of the Most Sixes in ICC CWC 2023 as they have only hit 7 sixes in their 3 games averaging 2.33 only. The 5-times World Champions have struggled against IND and SA but bounced back against SL in their 3rd match of ICC ODI CWC23. They’ve the least 6-hitting tendency which shows that they aren’t finding rhythm in the ICC CWC 2023 that’s why thay stand at 8th in the ICC Cricket World Cup points Table.
Tabular Analysis of the Teams with Most SIxes in CWC23
| Rank | Team | No of Sixes | CWC23 Points Table Ranking | Batter with Most Sixes | Most Runs by Batter |
| 1st | SL | 27 | 10th | Kusal Mendil (14) | Kusal Mendis (207) |
| 2nd | SA | 27 | 3rd | Quinton de Kock (8) | Quinton de Kock (229) |
| 3rd | NZ | 24 | 2nd | Daryll Mitchell (6) | DP Conwey (229) |
| 4th | IND | 19 | 1st | Rohit Sharma (11) | Rohit Sharma (217) |
| 5th | AFG | 17 | 6th | Rehmanullah Gurbaz (6) | Rehmanullah Gurbaz (148) |
| 6th | ENG | 14 | 5th | DJ Malan (5) | DJ Malan (186) |
| 7th | NED | 13 | 9th | Aryan Dutt (4) | SA Edwards (108) |
| 8th | BAN | 12 | 7th | Taskin Ahmed (3) | Mushfiqur Rahim (119) |
| 9th | PAK | 9 | 4th | Abdullah Shafique (3) | Muhammad Rizwan (248) |
| 10th | AUS | 7 | 8th | Glenn Maxwell (2) | M Labuschagne (113) |
SL even scoring the most sixes still searching for their first win of the tournament. Meanwhile, the 3rd, and 4th on the list of the most sixes are unbeaten which shows how important are scoring boundaries in this CWC 2023 competition and putting the counterpart under pressure. PAK is the only team with lesser boundaries to have won 2 out of 3.
Muhammad Rizwan being the highest scorer of the the tournament with 3 sixes to his name shows that one can score more without smashing too many boundaries. While SL’s 6-hitting capabilities don’t prove that the teams can win matches by hitting 6s. ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 demands some extra effort to get over the line which India and NZ are doing perfectly.
