Spectator Killer

I’ve travelled this old world of ours from Barnsley to Peru, I’ve had sunshine in the arctic and a swim in Timbuktu, I’ve seen unicorns in Burma and a Yetti in Nepal, And I’ve danced with ten foot pygmies in a Montezuma hall, I’ve met the King of China and a working Yorkshire miner, But I’ve never seen an innings like Richard Levi’s.

With apologies to Spitting Image.

I’ve watched a fair amount of cricket but I’ve never seen an innings like Richard Levi’s in the 2nd Twenty20 test in Hamilton, New Zealand. It was my privilege to turn on the television on Saturday morning as he fired the first warning shots into the Kiwi crowd. Then it was mayhem, spectators diving for cover, spilling their beers as the sixes were thumped into the pavilion. Survival depended on keeping one’s eye on the ball at all times. Seddon Park’s village green setting and picnic-like atmosphere looked like the aftermath of an Allied shelling raid. Sometimes the ball’s trajectory didn’t even arc before slamming into flesh and concrete such was the power of his hitting.

Klap.

“He goes straight. He hit it well. He hits….ahhhh…he’s hit someone down there too.” The floor manager in a black shirt, black cap and white stripes down his sleeve is trying not to rub his wound.

“Ahhh, it’s gone up, it’s gone high, it’s gone long, don’t worry about that.”

Only 45 balls for the century in an innings that included fourteen sixes.

Not since Herschelle bludgeoned his six sixes at St. Kitts have we witnessed an innings of such raw power.

Adrian Kuiper once hit a century, described by Daryl Cullinan as the “best one day hundred [he] had ever seen” in 48 balls. Though Levi’s effort now stands as the fastest ever Twenty20 century, Shahid Afridi holds the one day International record. His took 37 balls. Interestingly Mark Boucher is in 2nd place with a 44-ball century against Zimbabwe in Potchefstroom. However neither of these sharp shooters could match the battery of leather ammo that Levi fired into the stands. Twenty four years old, a product of Wynberg High School, Levi has earned the nickname, Spectator Killer.