The bat with which Sir Garfield Sobers hit a world record six sixes in an over is to be auctioned at Christie's in Melbourne on 4 October.

The short-handled Slazenger is expected to fetch up to �45,000 ($63,000 dollars).

It helped Sobers make history on August 31, 1968, when the West Indies left-hander was playing for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at Swansea.

Malcolm Nash was the unfortunate bowler. Normally a left-arm new ball bowler, he was bowling left-arm spin instead.

Nash saw his first two deliveries disappear into the stands of the Cricketer's Inn.

The third went into the pavilion enclosure and the fourth was sent over the scoreboard.

Caught

The fifth was driven straight and although Roger Davis caught it he fell over the boundary in the process, causing another six to be signalled.

Sobers fiercely pulled the sixth ball out of the ground and into St Helen's Avenue. The ball itself was not found until the following day.

India Test cricketer Ravi Shastri equalled Sobers' record when batting for Bombay against Baroda at Bombay in 1984-85. He also struck six sixes, Tilak Raj the luckless bowler.

Sobers' feat has been replayed many, many times on television as BBC Wales were televising the game, but what is often forgotten is that Nash was not bowling in his usual style.

He was a highly effective new-ball bowler, but on this occasion, Nash was experimenting with slow left-arm spin as the visitors approached a declaration.