Ollie Robinson rewrote the English Championship record books in the wrong way when the Test cricketer conceded an astonishing 43 runs off one over for Sussex on Wednesday.
Leicestershire batter Louis Kimber dispatched Robinson for a flurry of sixes and fours, with the punishment made worse because of three no-balls in the over at Hove, near Brighton.
Robinson’s unwanted feat came just two days after England spinner Shoaib Bashir conceded 38 runs in an over for Worcestershire, with Surrey’s Dan Lawrence blasting him for five straight sixes.
The 43 runs in an over broke the previous championship record – 38 when Lancashire’s Andrew Flintoff smashed Surrey’s Alex Tudor in 1998, a mark equalled only two days ago when Lawrence took Bashir apart.
It could have been even worse for paceman Robinson, who has 76 Test wickets for England at an economy rate of 2.75, because the huge-hitting Kimber scored only one run from the Sussex player’s last ball. Robinson has represented England in seven Ashes Tests, taking 21 wickets at an average of 26.90.
Batting at No.8 in Leicestershire’s second innings, the 27-year-old Kimber reached only his second county championship century from 62 balls.
His incredible innings ended on 243 from 127 balls, when he edged onto his own stumps chasing a big total, with only the No.11 batter for company.
Kimber hit 20 fours and 21 sixes in Leicestershire’s second-innings total of 445, and his strike rate of 191.33 would have stood out even in a Twenty20 batting barrage.
Division Two leader Sussex won by just 18 runs — a small relief for Robinson, who took five wickets in the match.
AP/AAP
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