Neesham blasts 34 in an over

New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham smashed 34 from an over and narrowly missed out on the fastest ever one-day 50 during a big-hitting cameo against Sri Lanka Thursday, reports cricket.com.au.

Neesham took a liking to the medium-pace bowling of Thisara Perera during the penultimate over of the first ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Mount Maunganui as he smashed five massive sixes from five legal deliveries.

After Perera then sent down a delivery that resulted in three no-balls, Neesham had the rare chance to break Herschelle Gibbs' record for most runs from a single ODI over, which the South African achieved against the Netherlands during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

The final delivery of the over proved anticlimactic however, with the Black Caps batsman managing only a single to claim the equal-third most runs from a single ODI over. 

Jimmy Neesham didn't play an international match in 2018. He's started 2019 with a bang, smashing five sixes in a Thisara Perera over during his 13-ball 47* 🔥https://t.co/YQudvo4Qfn #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/YJq7ZyVUiK

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 3, 2019

Neesham then had another shot at history as he took strike to Nuwan Pradeep for the final over of the innings on 36 not out from nine deliveries, with the world record for the fastest fifty very much within reach. 

Once again however, he fell just short – this time it was Gibbs' former teammate, AB de Villiers, whose 16-ball effort against the West Indies in 2015 proved beyond him, though potentially only because he ran out of overs; Neesham finished 47 not out from 13 balls following a huge six over cover from the final ball of the innings.

The 28-year-old's heroics and a superb 138 from veteran batsman Martin Guptill helped New Zealand post an imposing target of 7/371 from their 50 overs.

The Kiwis later won by 45 runs after restricting the Lankans to 326 in 49 overs.