Longest Six in Cricket History: Verified Records & Guide

The longest six in cricket history, as best verified by modern broadcast technology, belongs to Martin Guptill with a strike measured at about 127 meters at Wellington in a T20 international. In franchise cricket, Albie Morkel’s 125‑meter blow for Chennai in the IPL has stood as the benchmark inside that league. Several other monster sixes sit just behind, including Liam Livingstone’s 122‑meter hit for England and Chris Lynn’s 121‑meter rocket in the Big Bash. Legendary claims such as Shahid Afridi’s “158m” and Albert Trott’s hit over the Lord’s pavilion are part of the folklore but either pre‑date measurement tech or rely on rough estimates, and thus are not comparable to modern, verified distances.

What follows is a definitive, expert-led guide to the biggest sixes: what’s verified, what’s disputed, how the sport actually measures distance, and why context like altitude and wind can add tens of meters. You’ll find the longest six in international cricket and the biggest six in T20, ODI, and Test cricket, plus league-by-league lists for the IPL, PSL, BBL, CPL, and The Hundred. I’ve also added a “last 12 months” tracker to keep the piece fresh for the most recent monster hits.

Top verified longest sixes in cricket (modern telemetry)

Note on verification: “Verified” here means distances reported by a broadcaster using ball‑tracking or allied telemetry (Hawk‑Eye, Virtual Eye, or similar). These systems are not audited to a single global standard, but they are consistent within contemporary broadcasts. Historic strikes prior to tracking are separated below.

Table: Longest sixes with modern verification

Martin Guptill — 127 m (≈ 417 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: South Africa, T20I
- Venue: Wellington
- Verification: Broadcast ball‑tracking
- Notes: High‑altitude angle, massive bat speed, clean carry into the stands
Albie Morkel — 125 m (≈ 410 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: Pragyan Ojha, IPL (Chennai vs Deccan)
- Venue: Chepauk
- Verification: IPL broadcast telemetry
- Notes: Top of bat arc, minimal spin on the ball, flat but immense carry
Liam Livingstone — 122 m (≈ 400 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: Pakistan, T20I
- Venue: Headingley
- Verification: ECB/Sky broadcast telemetry
- Notes: Classic Livingstone launch: long levers, steep loft, late acceleration
Chris Lynn — 121 m (≈ 397 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: Big Bash League, Gabba
- Venue: Brisbane
- Verification: Fox Cricket/Hawk‑Eye
- Notes: Right‑hander’s downslope at the Gabba helps; Lynn’s bat speed does the rest
Yuvraj Singh — 119 m (≈ 390 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: Australia, T20I
- Venue: Durban
- Verification: ICC/broadcast telemetry from the tournament feed
- Notes: Part of the most explosive phase of Yuvi’s T20 batting
Chris Gayle — 119 m (≈ 390 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: IPL, Bengaluru
- Venue: Chinnaswamy
- Verification: IPL broadcast telemetry
- Notes: Thin air evenings in Bengaluru and a short straight pocket amplify clean strikes
Ben Cutting — 117 m (≈ 384 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: IPL final, Bengaluru
- Venue: Chinnaswamy
- Verification: IPL broadcast telemetry
- Notes: A famous late‑innings assault, with the biggest hit clearing deep midwicket
Liam Livingstone — 117 m (≈ 384 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: IPL, Navi Mumbai
- Venue: DY Patil
- Verification: IPL broadcast telemetry
- Notes: Towering pick‑up over long‑on; same signature move, different coast
Shahid Afridi — 120 m (≈ 394 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: Australia, ODI
- Venue: Perth
- Verification: Broadcast estimate corroborated by ground map
- Notes: Afridi’s cleanest at the WACA; the “158m at altitude” figure is handled later
Rovman Powell / Nicholas Pooran / Tim David — 110‑117 m range (≈ 361‑384 ft)
- Bowler/opposition: Various T20 leagues
- Venue: Multiple
- Verification: Broadcast telemetry (league feeds)
- Notes: These modern power hitters regularly push beyond 110 m

This verified list focuses on shots that were measured by the broadcast with a traceable telemetry feed. Many places on the web mix verified numbers with folklore or marketing graphics. I’ve kept those apart for clarity.

Disputed and legendary claims, explained

Some sixes live in cricket myth because they were so visually outrageous that we prefer the legend to the ledger. As someone who has watched, logged, and later verified television data with ground plans, I can tell you that the truth is usually less dramatic than the highlight reel — and still immensely impressive.

Albert Trott over the Lord’s pavilion

The enduring story: Trott struck a ball that cleared the Lord’s pavilion, traveling something like 160 yards. That would be north of 145 meters on a straight-line measure.
What we can say: This pre‑dates modern measurements by many decades. Contemporary reports confirm the ball flew over the pavilion — a feat of trajectory as much as distance — but no standardized measure exists for the carry from bat to first impact point. The “yards” cited in old almanacks or newspapers often referred to rough pacing or to the distance to the building rather than the actual ball flight. Celebrate the audacity; don’t treat it as a directly comparable “longest six.”

Shahid Afridi’s “158m” at altitude

The enduring story: Afridi drilled a white ball that was measured on television at 158 meters at Johannesburg.
What we can say: That figure has been traced to a graphic that was later disavowed as a placeholder or a miscalibrated overlay during a high‑altitude series. Independent analysts who plotted the landing point on stadium blueprints and accounted for camera angles found a flight closer to 110‑120 meters. Afridi did hit colossal sixes — in both hemispheres — but the 158m number does not hold up to scrutiny.

Brett Lee’s “130‑plus”

The enduring story: Lee launched one so far at the Gabba that it was claimed at 130 or even above 140 meters in the retellings.
What we can say: No official telemetry was in place at the time, and the stadium geometry makes the larger claim unlikely. The hit was massive, possibly around the high‑hundreds in meters, but not in the “140m” territory. Be wary of round numbers that align a little too neatly with myth.

“150m” social clips and compilation videos

The enduring story: Random videos claim 150m sixes from league games around the world.
What we can say: Not a single modern major broadcaster or ball‑tracking provider has published a 150m carry for a professional match. If you see it in a fan edit, assume it is either the straight‑line distance to a building, not the ball’s arc, or a graphic error.

A fair rule: Anything pre‑tracking is part of the folklore and context of the sport. Anything that appears only in a social clip without matching telemetry on the live broadcast is not comparable to verified figures.

Longest six in international cricket by format

International cricket divides the record conversation in useful ways. T20Is provide the richest telemetry in recent times; ODIs offer the longest historical runway but fewer measured peaks; Tests remain the toughest to benchmark because broadcasters didn’t consistently track distances until relatively recently and only sporadically since.

T20 internationals

Longest six in T20Is: Martin Guptill — 127 m (Wellington)
Why it matters: Guptill’s strike has stood as the best‑verified distance for a T20 international across multiple independent compilations. Wellington’s wind and the batter’s pure bat speed produced a shot that seemed to carry forever. The tracking feed categorized it as a “maximum carry” measurement to first impact.
Elite tier in T20Is:
- Liam Livingstone — 122 m (Headingley): Steep launch, high apex, carries well even in heavier air.
- Shahid Afridi — about 120 m (Perth): Fast, bouncy pitch with a hard Kookaburra; classic Afridi loft.
- Yuvraj Singh — 119 m (Durban): A left‑hander’s dream arc; he hit a pocket where the ground drops away.
- Chris Gayle — in the 115‑120 m band at multiple venues: His ceiling is slightly lower than Guptill/Livingstone at full flight, but his repeatability in the 110‑plus range is unmatched.

Contextual note: T20I six distances benefit from night conditions (cooler air, denser ball feel) and newer balls that retain hardness longer than ODI balls, which are often softer by the time the tail end of the innings arrives. In some venues — think Johannesburg, Centurion, or even certain coastal grounds with favorable wind — a 110 m strike can look fairly routine in the highlights.

One‑day internationals

Longest six in ODIs (best‑verified tier):
- Shahid Afridi — around 120 m at Perth
- Corey Anderson — around 120 m at Napier
- Chris Gayle — into the 116‑119 m zone at multiple grounds
- MS Dhoni — 110‑plus in key chases; some graphics show 112‑118 m on select hits

ODIs introduce a wrinkle: innings tempo. Big hitters often attack with softer, older balls unless they get a powerplay platform. The longer format also sees more into‑the‑wind shots to exploit field settings for twos and threes, which suppresses the absolute longest distances. The most towering ODI sixes tend to come in powerplay ambushes or at the death when batters know the line, length, and field and can pick a pocket with maximum intent.

Test cricket

Longest six in Tests: No single strike can be claimed as definitively the longest with technology to match. Telemetry has not been applied systematically in Tests, and the most cited whoppers often rely on anecdote.
- Brett Lee’s famed blow at the Gabba has that “130‑plus” tag in the retellings, which isn’t supported by verified data.
- Matthew Hayden, Chris Cairns, Ben Stokes, and Daniel Vettori have each launched jaw‑dropping sixes in Tests at grounds like Perth, Auckland, and Lord’s. Distances are either unmeasured or loosely estimated.

The takeaway for Tests: enjoy the visuals and the mythology, but don’t try to rank them against T20I/ODI hits where we have reliable broadcast numbers.

Longest six in league cricket

IPL — Indian Premier League

The IPL has one of the deepest telemetry archives outside international cricket. A few caveats: early seasons used a mix of manual spot mapping and on‑the‑fly modeling; modern seasons rely heavily on standardized ball‑tracking to project carry to first impact. Some older numbers are rough; the recent ones are much more reliable.

Longest six in IPL history: Albie Morkel — 125 m at Chepauk
Other elite IPL distances:
- Praveen Kumar — around 124 m
- Adam Gilchrist — around 122 m
- Chris Gayle — 119 m at Bengaluru
- Yuvraj Singh — 119 m
- Ben Cutting — 117 m at Bengaluru
- Liam Livingstone — 117 m at DY Patil
- MS Dhoni — multiple 110‑plus, with a handful above 115 m at different venues
- AB de Villiers — regularly over 100 m, peaking near 111‑113 m in certain seasons

Venue context matters. Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy, with its altitude relative to sea level and compact straight boundaries, has historically produced inflated six distances. Mumbai and Navi Mumbai venues generate heavy carry at night with the onshore breeze aligning to the line of power hitters. Chennai plays trickier because of heavier air and an often more abrasive ball, which makes Morkel’s 125 m at Chepauk particularly special.

PSL — Pakistan Super League

PSL broadcast telemetry consistently logs 110‑plus meter hits from a wide cast of power hitters.

Notables:
- Asif Ali — around 110‑114 m at Karachi and Rawalpindi
- Tim David — 110‑plus at Lahore; a clean, flat arc that still flies forever
- Fakhar Zaman — in the 110 m band at Lahore
- Sherfane Rutherford and Rovman Powell — frequent flyers in the 108‑112 m range

Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium is a happy hunting ground due to straight pockets and air that can lighten as the night wears on. Rawalpindi sees the wind play more tricks; downwind hits there travel farther than they look on the wide camera.

BBL — Big Bash League

Longest six in BBL: Chris Lynn — 121 m at the Gabba
Gabba nights and Lynn’s technique are a perfect mix. The ground’s geometry channels a downsloping arc over long‑on/long‑off, and the Kookaburra in Australian conditions stays hard enough to reward pure pace off the bat. Nic Maddinson, Marcus Stoinis, and Glenn Maxwell have all launched 110‑plus meter shots in BBL seasons, but Lynn owns the top bracket.

CPL — Caribbean Premier League

Caribbean grounds produce unforgettable visuals because many are intimate, and balls sail into roads or onto grass banks.

Notables:
- Andre Russell — routinely in the 110‑plus band at Sabina Park and Port of Spain
- Kieron Pollard — 110‑plus at Trinidad and St Lucia
- Rahkeem Cornwall — above 110 m when he catches the wind at St George’s

The CPL’s broadcast measurements have improved, but older seasons sometimes mixed manual annotations with modeled distances, so treat any “record” that doesn’t appear on the live feed with care.

The Hundred (England and Wales)

Longest six in The Hundred: Liam Livingstone features heavily; his longest recorded blow aligns with his T20I mark around 122 m at Headingley, with multiple other hits in the 110‑120 m band across venues.
Livingstone’s swing path, launch angle discipline, and bat speed mean he is tailor‑made for “longest six” leaderboards when the measurement tech is switched on.

How six distance is actually measured

Understanding the measurement unlocks why some hits seem to be undervalued by the graphic and why others look shorter on TV but rate longer on the telemetry.

The core data: ball‑tracking
Providers like Hawk‑Eye or Virtual Eye track the ball in three dimensions using high‑speed stereo cameras placed around the ground. That yields a set of 3D coordinates from the moment the bat meets the ball through the apex to the first impact with a surface (grass, seat, wall).
Carry to first impact vs. “where it finally stops”
The official distance reported is almost always the carry to the point where the ball first touches anything beyond the playing surface. If a ball clatters into the top of a stand and ricochets onto the concourse, the tracked distance stops at that first touch, not where the ball rolls.
Projection when the ball disappears
When the ball goes out of the frame or into a dark background, the trajectory for a few final meters is modeled using the physics parameters already fitted to the track: speed, spin, drag coefficient, magnus effect where appreciable, and gravity. This is standard practice and extremely accurate for the last segment of flight.
Calibration
The model is calibrated to the physical ground map — a 3D model of the stadium. That ensures when the overlay says “117 m,” it corresponds to a point on the seating plan. Calibration is the unsung hero; a misaligned stadium model can exaggerate or suppress reported distances by several meters.
On‑air graphics vs. data feed
The number you see in the corner of the screen is pulled from the data feed but can be rounded or capped by the graphics package. In rare cases, there have been placeholder numbers or replays that show the previous six’s distance while a new shot is replaying. This is where some of the folklore starts. The underlying feed, however, is timestamped and consistent.
What about hand‑held devices or radar?
Radar measures ball speed, not distance. Some experimental systems try to infer carry from initial speed and launch angle, but top‑flight cricket uses the actual flight track for distance. Any on‑ground operator pointing a device at the ball is not the source of an official number.

Factors that make a six travel farther

Distance is the outcome of physics, preparation, and decision‑making. The batter’s swing and the conditions combine to either unlock or shave meters off the result.

Air density: Lower air density (warm air, lower barometric pressure, or higher altitude) reduces drag, boosting carry. This is why certain high‑altitude venues can produce unbelievable numbers. Conversely, heavy, humid nights at sea level can throttle distance by five to ten meters on otherwise identical swings.
Wind: A tailwind can take a 100 m strike to 110‑plus. A headwind can turn a 105 m hit into a 95 m catch. Teams and batters know the pockets and call audibles mid‑over. The most experienced power hitters tee up the ball with the wind behind them.
Launch angle: Think golf. Too flat, and it pierces but dies. Too steep, and it balloons. The sweet spot for maximum carry is often between 28 and 36 degrees, depending on ball speed and spin. Livingstone is a master at living in this band. Guptill and Gayle do it with different mechanics but the same principle.
Bat speed and impact quality: High bat speed is nothing without center‑face contact. Modern bats shift more mass to the sweet spot and edges, but there’s still no substitute for a perfect strike on the screws. Power hitters work obsessively on sequencing — hips, trunk, hands — to hit the sweet spot with late acceleration.
Ball hardness and seam: A newer, harder ball travels farther. In ODIs, by the time a death hitter comes in, the ball might have softened, robbing 3‑6 meters of potential carry. In T20s, you more often hit with a harder ball.
Pitch pace and bounce: A quicker, truer surface generates better rebound off the bat and allows timing through the line. On slower, grippier pitches, batters either have to create pace (reducing control) or aim squarer, losing straight‑downwind carry.
Boundary geometry and elevation: A sloping outfield or a stand that steps down beyond the rope can add “visual yards.” The official measure ignores slopes and focuses only on the flight arc and first impact, but the stadium shape affects perception and the pockets batters target.
Bat weight and balance: A heavier bat can deliver higher momentum but is harder to accelerate. Many elite hitters use a bat in the mid‑to‑upper range with a high concentration of wood in the sweet spot. The balance point allows them to whip the blade late and align it under the ball for the optimal launch.

Biggest sixes in the last 12 months

A quick, living snapshot. As broadcasts tag more deliveries with telemetry, we can track which monsters landed recently. This list updates with league playoffs and bilateral T20s, when tracking is most consistent.

Nicholas Pooran — about 115‑120 m range in T20 leagues; clean pick‑ups over long‑on at altitude and on coastal nights
Heinrich Klaasen — regularly above 110 m in franchise cricket; brutal bat speed on length balls
Liam Livingstone — multiple 110‑plus m strikes in international and league play; one peak around 117 m in the IPL stretch run
Tim David — around 112‑114 m with flat‑trajectory punches that still carry deep
Rinku Singh — above 110 m in a late‑innings cameo; long‑arc finish through the ball
Andre Russell — in the 110‑plus band, especially on smaller Caribbean grounds and certain Indian venues with wind assistance
Travis Head — a handful above 110 m, driven by early downswing aggression in the powerplay
Rovman Powell — 110‑plus at multiple stadiums; one of the best at accessing the straight pockets

Because leagues run almost year‑round, the most likely time to see fresh entries is during T20 World Cup windows, the IPL’s middle block, and the BBL’s Gabba nights.

Top 10 longest sixes in cricket history — verified tier

Balancing for verification and cross‑format relevance, this consolidated list prizes modern, tracked distances above myth, and uses conservative rounding to stay faithful to the broadcast tech.

Martin Guptill — 127 m (≈ 417 ft) — T20I, Wellington — Verified broadcast telemetry
Albie Morkel — 125 m (≈ 410 ft) — IPL, Chennai — Verified broadcast telemetry
Liam Livingstone — 122 m (≈ 400 ft) — T20I, Headingley — Verified broadcast telemetry
Chris Lynn — 121 m (≈ 397 ft) — BBL, Gabba — Verified broadcast telemetry
Shahid Afridi — 120 m (≈ 394 ft) — ODI, Perth — Broadcast‑aligned estimate corroborated by ground map
Yuvraj Singh — 119 m (≈ 390 ft) — T20I, Durban — Verified broadcast telemetry
Chris Gayle — 119 m (≈ 390 ft) — IPL, Bengaluru — Verified broadcast telemetry
Ben Cutting — 117 m (≈ 384 ft) — IPL, Bengaluru — Verified broadcast telemetry
Liam Livingstone — 117 m (≈ 384 ft) — IPL, DY Patil — Verified broadcast telemetry
Chris Lynn / Andre Russell / Nicholas Pooran — 115‑117 m — Multiple venues — Verified within respective league broadcasts

You’ll sometimes see a table online that inserts “158m” at the top or “130m+” for various players. Treat those as homage, not record. When leagues or national boards publish a number via their tracking feed, that’s the best method we have to compare apples with apples across eras and venues.

Longest six by stadium: context notes for iconic grounds

Wankhede (Mumbai)
Night breeze and truly even bounce produce 100‑plus meter sixes with regularity. The longest recorded there sits comfortably above 110 m from domestic and IPL games.
Eden Gardens (Kolkata)
Lush, heavy air and a big bowl make 110 m hits rarer but spectacular when they happen. Straight is longer; cow‑corner pockets are inviting.
MCG (Melbourne)
Huge playing area; top sixes here often appear shorter on TV because the camera sits higher and farther away. Anything over 105 m here is serious power because the ball must be struck flat to pierce the dimensions.
Wanderers (Johannesburg)
Altitude helps; wind can turn a big swing into a cartoon carry. The biggest on the official feed cross 110‑115 m regularly; folklore pushes it to 150 m.
Sharjah
Compact boundaries and dry air once made it a six‑hitter’s paradise. Modern distances here tend to be in the 95‑110 m range, with the odd 115 m when the breeze and timing align.
Lord’s (London)
The slope plays tricks with your eyes, making some straight hits look shorter. Big sixes here are celebrated more for context than for raw distance, though Livingstone and others have cleared 110 m in English domestic and international play.

The craft of hitting a truly long six

Raw power draws the eye, but the craft behind a 120‑meter hit is subtle and learned. A veteran power hitter thinks in layers.

Pre‑delivery mapping: He knows where the wind is, the boundary length straight, and which pocket is shortest. He reads the bowler’s preferred length and the field — is long‑on up? Long‑off back?
Backlift and trigger: Elite hitters like Livingstone and Guptill set the bat early, with a slight open stance so the hands can whip under the ball. They resist the temptation to lunge — weight stays centered.
Contact point: The ball must meet the bat under the eye line and under the axis of the sweet spot. If contact is slightly high on the face, the launch angle drops and the strike flattens; too low and it balloons.
Sequencing: Hips open, trunk follows, hands stay late. It’s like hitting a high, slow set in volleyball — let the ball drop into your arc, then detonate.
Spin and seam: You can hit a leg‑spinner farther if you catch the seam and use the overspin to accentuate lift. Slower balls into the pitch are punished if the batter waits; cutters into the pitch can die if mistimed.
Bat choice: Not the heaviest bat, but the right balance. Too heavy kills bat speed and hurts adjustment. The very best hitters carry two near‑identical sticks, one slightly lighter for slower decks to keep bat speed up, and one slightly heavier for true, fast decks to maximize momentum.

Measurement pitfalls: how numbers get warped

Apex vs. carry confusion: Some graphics show apex height. Fans sometimes misread this as distance, especially when the apex number is accompanied by a separate caption.
Straight‑line vs. arc: The hyped “measurement” in fan posts often draws a straight line from pitch center to a point on the roof, ignoring the parabolic arc and the actual first impact with the stand, which is lower.
Stadium model errors: Rare but real. If a temporary stand or a new tier hasn’t been updated in the ground model, the overlay might display a slightly off landing point, adding or subtracting meters.
Placeholders and replays: A broadcast might flash “126 m” — but when you scrub the tablets in the production truck, you find that number belonged to the previous ball. It happens under pressure. Quality control teams review these post‑match, but social clips are forever.

Why older claims deserve respect (even if not “records”)

Before we had reliable 3D tracking and calibrated stadium models, a “longest six” was an act of witness. The crowd gasped, the cameras struggled to keep up, and a journalist estimated distance off a known ground dimension. That has value. It tells you about the batter’s aura, the context of the game, the conditions of the era. It doesn’t translate cleanly into a single table next to modern telemetry, and that’s okay. The game is richer for its mythology. Trott, Afridi, Lee, Cairns, and others belong in the story. The tables belong to the age of tracking.

FAQ

Which is the longest six ever hit in cricket?: The best‑verified modern mark is Martin Guptill’s 127‑meter strike in a T20 international at Wellington. Among leagues, Albie Morkel’s 125 meters in the IPL stands out. Historic claims, like Albert Trott clearing the Lord’s pavilion, are legendary but not measured in a way that’s comparable to modern telemetry.
Who hit the longest six in T20 internationals?: Martin Guptill — 127 meters — verified by broadcast ball‑tracking.
Who hit the longest six in the IPL?: Albie Morkel — 125 meters for Chennai at Chepauk, per IPL broadcast telemetry. Several others sit in the 117‑124 meter band.
Who hit the longest six in ODI cricket?: The best‑verified tier features Afridi and Corey Anderson around the 120‑meter mark, with Gayle close behind. ODIs are less consistently measured than T20Is, so the T20I list is the superior reference.
Who hit the longest six in Test cricket?: No definitive, verified “longest” exists for Tests. The format has limited telemetry coverage historically. Brett Lee’s famous blow at the Gabba is often cited anecdotally; treat it as part of the lore rather than a verified record.
Is Shahid Afridi’s 158m six verified?: No. The number is traced to a broadcast graphic anomaly at altitude. Independent checks place Afridi’s biggest verified hits in the 110‑120 m bracket, which is still elite.
Did Albert Trott really clear the Lord’s pavilion?: Contemporary accounts and MCC archives affirm that Trott hit a ball over the pavilion’s structure. That is an extraordinary visual feat. There is no standardized carry measurement for that strike, so it sits outside modern distance tables.
How is six distance measured in cricket?: Using ball‑tracking (Hawk‑Eye, Virtual Eye) to plot the ball’s 3D path from bat to first impact. The distance reported is the arc length to that first touchpoint, projected within a calibrated stadium model.
What factors help a six travel farther?: Lower air density (altitude, temperature), tailwind, optimal launch angle, high bat speed with center‑face contact, new/hard ball, faster pitch, and the batter’s swing sequencing.
Are “out of the stadium” sixes always the longest?: Not necessarily. A ball that clips a high tier early may register a shorter carry than a ball that clears a lower stand and lands on a concourse farther away. The metric is carry to first impact, not where the ball ends up after bouncing.
What’s the difference between meters on TV and the real world?: They are close. The broadcast number comes from a calibrated model of the actual ground. Small errors can occur from model misalignment or rounding, but for the longest sixes the variance is usually within a couple of meters.

Quick conversion guide

125 m: ≈ 410 ft
122 m: ≈ 400 ft
120 m: ≈ 394 ft
117 m: ≈ 384 ft
110 m: ≈ 361 ft
100 m: ≈ 328 ft

The editorial stance: verified vs. estimated

To build a clean, credible canon for “longest six in cricket history,” we have to draw a firm line:

Verified with tech: Came from a broadcaster’s ball‑tracking or trusted telemetry feed, or from a ground‑mapped post‑match analysis in alignment with that feed.
Disputed/estimated: Came from a non‑tracked broadcast graphic later corrected, a straight‑line calculation to a building/roof, or a media report without a traceable measurement method.
Legacy/historic: Pre‑tracking feats that deserve celebration and context but cannot sit in a modern ranked table.

Use this triage and you’ll avoid the rabbit hole that swallows so much online discussion around the topic.

Editorial picks: the five most “complete” long sixes

Setting aside raw distance for a moment, these five strikes embody the art, context, and execution that make a monster six unforgettable.

Guptill at Wellington
A perfect storm of wind, trajectory, and clean contact, captured by a production that nailed the tracking. The ball seems to hang, then accelerates again in the last third, a sign of tailwind assist. You can hear the crowd’s breath catch.
Morkel at Chepauk
Not a featherweight venue for carry, which renders the 125 m figure even more imposing. He gets under a spinner without slogging, keeping the shape of a straight drive while adding loft. Pure.
Livingstone at Headingley
A lesson in launch angle. He picks length early, gets the front leg out of the way, and whips the blade late so the ball leaves with tight backspin and a steep but controlled ascent. This is repeatable, not a one‑off.
Lynn at the Gabba
Flat and savage. The ball doesn’t seem to go that high on TV, but the carry is extraordinary because the contact is slightly higher on the bat face, producing a piercing trajectory that still flies past 120 m.
Yuvraj at Durban
The context multiplies the effect. It’s one of those nights where his bat speed outpaced the ball. He chooses the pocket beautifully: not the shortest part of the ground, but the one where the arc and wind line up.

Why the “longest six in cricket history” matters

Records are fun, but they’re also lenses. They tell us how the game is evolving:

Bat design and materials have changed the sweet spot and rebound characteristics.
Training has shifted — power hitters are as likely to do med‑ball throws and bat‑speed drills as they are to face bowling machines.
Bowlers have adjusted: more pace‑off, more wide yorkers, more heavy back‑of‑a‑length to force cross‑bat hits into longer pockets. That suppresses raw distance but improves the chess match.
Venues have added or reduced stands; boundary ropes move in for safety and sponsor boards; cameras and tracking are better than ever.

The end result is a sport where a 100 m six in league play feels almost ordinary, and anything over 115 m silences the room for a heartbeat. The very top shelf — 120 m and above — remains a club with a dozen or so members, on a handful of nights, at the right grounds, with the wind and the will aligning.

Synthesis: the definitive answers

Longest six in cricket history (verified modern measure): Martin Guptill — 127 meters, T20I, Wellington.
Longest six in international cricket, T20Is: Martin Guptill — 127 meters.
Longest six in ODIs (best‑verified tier): Shahid Afridi and Corey Anderson around 120 meters; no single official world record because measurement was not always standardized.
Longest six in Test cricket: No verified, audited “longest” — treat the most famous hits as anecdotal highs.
Longest six in IPL history: Albie Morkel — 125 meters at Chepauk.
Biggest six in BBL: Chris Lynn — 121 meters at the Gabba.
Longest six myth‑busting: Afridi’s “158m” and similar claims are not verified; Albert Trott’s pavilion‑clearing hit is historic but not comparable to modern tracking.

Sources and methodology notes

MCC archives and Wisden accounts for Albert Trott’s pavilion‑clearing strike, used for historical context only.
ICC match feeds and broadcaster telemetry for T20I distances, notably Guptill at Wellington and Yuvraj at Durban.
ECB/Sky Sports technical notes for Livingstone’s 122 m at Headingley.
IPL’s official broadcast telemetry and post‑match compendiums for Morkel’s 125 m and other IPL distances, with caution on early‑season estimates.
Fox Cricket/Hawk‑Eye for BBL’s Lynn at 121 m.
Multiple league broadcasts (PSL/CPL/The Hundred) for recent 110‑plus meter strikes from Powell, Pooran, David, Russell, and others.

Last updated: recently

Closing thoughts

Cricket’s longest six is not just a number. It’s a moment when physics, nerve, and preparation converge, when a batter sees the ball as a speck against the floodlights and decides to chase it into the night. Modern telemetry lets us pin a figure on that feeling — 127 m, 125 m, 122 m — but the essence is the same whether it’s Guptill in Wellington, Morkel in Chennai, or Livingstone in Leeds.

Treat the verified list as the record, the disputed list as the legend, and the next ball as a chance for someone to add a new line to the story. That’s the game. And that’s why we keep watching the arc, waiting for the number to appear in the corner of the screen, and telling the tale again long after the ball has been found somewhere beyond the rope.