Hit for six: Miandad's six is metaphor for chaos and complexity

EDITOR—Miandad's six, as analysed by Abbasi and Khan in their short report,1 is a metaphor that takes us beyond the boundary to new thinking. It is similar to the butterfly metaphor of chaos and complexity science: “A butterfly flapping its wings in Texas causes a tornado in Texas.” This six caused ripples across time and space.

Miandad at the crease, a year after hitting the six whose analysis launched a thousand (well, 72) rapid responses

Credit: CHRIS COLE/ALLSPORT/GETTY

C L R James, whose words, “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?” were paraphrased in the opening sentence of the article, argued in his book Beyond a Boundary that cricket is an art whose structure allows variety and that it relates to history and society.2

Cricket is a game of complexity, with non-linear and dynamic interactions of the weather, ground conditions, selection policies (which were mentioned by the authors), and many other factors determining outcomes. In such systems, chaos rears its head, making plausible the hypothesis mentioned by Abbasi and Khan, that a single shot had an enduring influence.

Publication of this article has been dismissed by some on bmj.com as “not cricket,” yet it may have the same effect as Miandad's six in creating change, bringing to the attention of readers concepts of simplicity and complexity which underlie all of medicine and health, and all of life itself. It may thus still become a landmark article, which may bowl us over, going beyond the boundary.

Such concepts have been previously described in relation to the South Asian community, with chaos and complexity being used as a tool for change in health promotion.3 4 Cricket has been used as a tool for change in health, with cricket scores and history used to stimulate interest at a South Asian heart health fair in Toronto in 1995.4 The idea of Miandad's six leading to change is therefore not as far fetched as it may sound.