Gibbs stars as Proteas crush Holland

This combo shows South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs hitting six sixes in their ICC World Cup Group A match against the Netherlands at the Warner Park Stadium in St. Kitts on Friday. Gibbs smashed his way into the record books as he became the first man to hit six sixes in an over in a one-day international. PHOTO: AFP

Herschelle Gibbs clobbered his way to a first in international cricket, swatting six sixes in one over on Friday in South Africa's 221-run World Cup win over the Netherlands.

He earned US$1 million for charity, and magnified the gulf between the Test and the Associate teams that will likely keep growing wider on the small grounds in the Caribbean.

"It's up there with the best things I've done," Gibbs said. "I never thought about getting six in a row -- but if it's your day, it's your day."

South Africa's winning margin was the third-largest in World Cup history. The record of 256 has narrowly survived on three consecutive days: defending champions Australia beat Scotland by 203 runs on Wednesday -- also at Warner Park in St. Kitts -- to claim the second-highest margin, less than 24 hours before Sri Lanka trounced Bermuda by 243 runs in Trinidad.

In a more pivotal match at St. Lucia, allrounder Scott Styris guided New Zealand to a six-wicket win over England in a result that should determine No. 1 and No. 2 in Group C.

New Zealand's Scott Styris, left, and wicket keeper Brendon McCullum, right, react after taking the wicket of England's Jamie Dalrymple during their Group C Cricket World Cup Match at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in Gros Islet, St. Lucia, on Friday. PHOTO: AFP

England beat Australia and New Zealand in a limited-overs tri-series in January and came to the Caribbean confident of at least making it beyond the first round for the first time since 1996.

"It's not a great start and we have to make sure we win the next two games to get into the Super 8s but it's certainly not the end of our tournament by a long way," England captain Michael Vaughan said.

The English were coasting with Kevin Pietersen (60) and Paul Collingwood (31) at the crease, until Styris dismissed Collingwood, triggering a collapse of three wickets in seven balls.

Despite Paul Nixon's cameo 42 at the end, England's 209-7 never looked like enough.

Jimmy Anderson, playing with a splint on his broken finger, did his best to give England a chance by taking two wickets as New Zealand crashed to 3-2 and 19-3 in reply.

But Styris posted an unbeaten 87, sharing a 54-run stand with Craig McMillan (27) which steadied the innings and an unbroken 138 with Jacob Oram (63) to lift New Zealand to 210-4.

"A nervy win," New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said. "Brilliant to get the two points in the bank. The first game could have a massive bearing on certainly the next stage. To win it and get across the line was a great relief."

There was no relief in sight for Daan van Bunge, the 25-year-old Dutch legspinner who will enter cricket lore for being the first bowler ever to concede six sixes in one over of international cricket.

"After the fourth one, I thought it could be on," Gibbs said. "The idea was to have another two goes at it [the record], and luckily I didn't miscue any of them, so it was quite nice. I was lucky the straight boundaries were quite small."

Van Bunge grimmaced, Gibbs smiled and half waved his bat at the crowd before ambling down the pitch to high-five his batting partner.

Tournament sponsor Johnnie Walker confirmed it would donate US$1 million to Habitat for Humanity housing projects to commemorate Gibbs' feat -- only two days after launching the `Six Sixes' challenge.

It had happened only two times before, both in first-class matches. West Indies great Sir Garfield Sobers did it in 1968 at Swansea, and Indian allrounder Ravi Shastri in an Indian domestic match.

Gibbs did not dominate South Africa's scoring, however, out for 72 in the over after his 6-6-6-6-6-6 sequence.

Jacques Kallis scored 128 not out from 109 balls and added 134 off 9.1 overs with Mark Boucher (75 off 31 balls), who took just 21 balls to record the fastest World Cup 50.

South Africa scored 353-3 off 40 overs, the match shortened by 10 overs to each side because of a delayed start due to heavy overnight rain.

The Netherlands were held to 132 for nine in reply.

Until then, van Bunge had a decent World Cup track-record. In 2003, he took 3-16 against England -- dismissing Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff and Nick Knight -- and struck 62 against eventual finalist India.

Van Bunge's reaction to becoming the first bowler to be hit for the maximum was one of shock, according to his captain.

"He started laughing as he was sitting in the dressing room -- he had some flashbacks," Luuk Van Troost said.

Asked if he'd offered any words of wisdon, Van Troost said he had tried.

"I told him after the third ball: `try to bowl a quicker one.' He said: `I just did!"' Van Troost said. "There were a few good balls in it, and a few [bad] balls."

"It's terrible to be a captain in that situation, last couple of overs, I didn't know where to put my players any more, where to bowl," he said.