GARRY Sobers was the star attraction for the Bank Holiday crowd.

Malcolm Nash was about to deliver the first ball of the 99th over from around the wicket at the Pavilion End.

Just in front of him, umpire Eddie Phillipson was standing back, about three yards from the stumps, hands on knees, in a slightly crouched position. John Parkin, right glove on hip, prepared to move off as Nash, clasping the ball in both hands, began his run-up of no more than half a dozen paces.

"It was a challenge because I was playing against the best in the world and I just wanted to get Garry out," says Nash.

"You do that by bowling straight and attacking the batsman."

At the other end, three men waited for his first delivery – Eifion Jones, hoping for a nick outside the off stump, Majid Khan, hands on knees at slip and Garry Sobers, his mind made up.

"I was on 40 and thought I should go for it," he recalls.

"There was a short boundary on the Gorse Lane side of the square, by the scorebox, and there was no risk if you really connected. I made up my mind to hit the ball over the boundary – irrespective of where it was pitched.

"As Malcolm prepared to bowl, I remembered the two versions of how to get quick runs. Everton Weekes used to tell me that if I kept the ball on the ground no one could catch me while Sir Learie Constantine preferred the alternative, saying if you hit it up in the air and out of the ground nobody could catch it anyway. On that occasion, I chose Lord Constantine's version.

"I decided I was going to hit it in the air and take the risks. There were no thoughts of six sixes at that stage, just runs, and I was not even bothered whether I was out or not."

Sobers stood motionless, apart from a single tap of his bat on the ground, until the ball left Nash's hand and landed in front of him. Thwack!

A majestic swing of his Slazenger short-handled, four star blade, with the spin, launched the ball out of the ground, over the heads of Alan Rees at midwicket and then Tony Cordle at wide long-on.

The ball sailed past a floodlight pylon and hit the wall of The Cricketers pub before bouncing down into the road.

Bat at the ready, Sobers stood to the right of the crease, grinning from ear to ear.

"When the first one went for six," says Ossie Wheatley, "I thought it was just routine. Fair enough, Sobers likes to whack the ball and St Helen's is a fairly tight ground."

"As the sixes started flying," recalls Alan Rees, "I thought it was good entertainment. Malcolm wasn't bowling his usual style so it was a bit like playing in a benefit game."

In the commentary box, Wilf Wooller, with the help of scorer Bill Edwards, was starting to do his sums: "He's hit that out of the ground – way up, many a mile, past the pylon there, over into the road, near the old Cricketers. He's smiling all over his face. The ball's been returned. Forty-six now to Sobers and he's been at the wicket for … how long, Bill Edwards? Thirty minutes… so the fastest century is on."

Runs rather than records were on Garry Sobers' mind. Malcolm Nash was thinking about his next ball. One down, five to go.

Six of the Best – Cricket's Most Famous Over by Grahame Lloyd, published by Celluloid Ltd. Available from tomorrow, priced £14.99

Tomorrow: the fifth ball that could have spelled the end of Sobers' record-breaking feat.