England were touring that year to play two T20I matches, 5 ODI games, and four tests. The SACB declared that for every six that was scored in any of the matches, 500 rand would be donated to the SEF.
This gave the players an extra incentive to try and go big as not only would they be helping their team towards a big score; they would also be helping the elephants out. What’s not to like about that?
So How Many Sixes Were Scored?
The first T20I match took place on the 13th November. England scored 202 from their 20 overs, with Eoin Morgan striking five sixes and Paul Collingwood hitting four. In their reply, Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman belted four sixes each.
The second T20I took place two days later. South Africa scored 241 from their 20 overs, with Bosman smacking nine sixes, Smith hitting six sixes, and Albie Morkel and AD de Villiers hitting one each. In reply, Jonathan Trott hit three sixes, Kevin Pietersen hit two, and Luke Wright hit 1.
The T20I series ended 1-1 but, more importantly, 40 sixes were hit over the two games, meaning 20,000 rand was raised.
The first ODI match was meant to take place on the 20th November, but the match was abandoned due to poor weather.
The second ODI match took place on the 22nd November. In South Africa’s 50 overs, Jean-Paul Duminy, Alviro Petersen, and Dale Steyn hit one six each. During England’s innings, Collingwood hit two sixes and Eoin Morgan hit one.
The third ODI was played on the 27th November. South Africa batted first, but the only six of their innings was scored by Mark Boucher. During England’s innings, Collingwood hit three sixes, while Pietersen and Wright hit one each.
The fourth ODI was played on the 29th of November. However, unfortunately, not a single six was hit by either side. To add salt into the wound, the fifth and final ODI match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
England won the ODI series 2-1 but, once again, more importantly, 12 sixes were struck, meaning an additional 6,000 rand was raised.
The first test match was played between the 16-20th December. In South Africa’s first innings, Jacques Kallis hit one six while Duminy hit another. In England’s first innings, Graeme Swann belted two sixes, while Pietersen, Collingwood, and Anderson hit one each. Two more sixes were hit in South Africa’s second innings by de Villiers and Boucher. England didn’t hit any sixes in their second innings.
The second test was played between the 26-30th December. South Africa batted first and Steyn scored three sixes. England hit four sixes in their first innings off the bats of Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, and Swann. South Africa didn’t hit any sixes in their second innings and England didn’t need to bat again.
The third test was played between the 3-7th January. There were only two sixes hit throughout the course of this whole match and these came off the bats of Duminy and Boucher in South Africa’s second innings.
The fourth and final match of the tour was played between the 14-18th January. England batted first and hit three sixes, two by Collingwood and one by Swann. South Africa didn’t hit any in their first innings, while Collingwood added one more in England’s second innings. South Africa weren’t required to bat again.
The test series ended 1-1 but, more importantly, 22 sixes were hit. This means that a total of 11,000 rand was raised.
So How Much Was Raised Overall?
Well, 20,000 rand was raised during the T20I matches, 6,000 rand was raised during the ODI games, and 11,000 rand was raised from the test matches. This meant that 37,000 rand was raised overall. However, the SACB took into consideration that some of the games were abandoned, so rounded it up to 40,000 rand.
Furthermore, all the players who had won the Player of the Match award collectively decided to add their cash prizes to the donation. This meant that the final donation to the SEF was 85,000 rand.