Cricket-Napier hits 16 sixes to equal world record

LONDON May 19 (Reuters) - Essex all-rounder Graham Napier equalled the record for the number of sixes in a first-class ininngs when he struck 16 in a county match against Surrey on Thursday.

Napier cleared the boundary 16 times and hit 19 fours in a knock of 196 off 130 balls on the second day of the county championship game at Whitgift School in Croydon.

Australian Andrew Symonds struck 16 sixes for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan in 1995.

Napier, 31, is playing his first first-class game since June after suffering a back injury last season.

He also holds the record for number of sixes in Twenty20 cricket, hitting 16 in an innings of 152 against Sussex in 2008.

(Reporting by Ed Osmond, editing by John Mehaffey; to query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)