Southampton, Aug 5 (IANS): England skipper Eoin Morgan has broken M.S. Dhoni's record for most sixes as a captain in international cricket. He achieved the feat during the third and final ODI against Ireland which England lost by seven wickets.

On Tuesday, Morgan scored an 84-ball 106 -- which included 15 fours and four sixes at the Ageas Bowl -- and helped England set a 329-run target which Ireland chased down with a ball to spare. With those four sixes, the left-handed batsman now has 328 international sixes to his name. As captain, he has hit 212 sixes and has gone past Dhoni's tally of 211.

While the former Indian skipper had taken 332 games to hit 211 sixes, Morgan went past Dhoni's tally in just 163 games. Ricky Ponting comes third on the list with 171 sixes as captain and is followed by New Zealand's Brendon McCullum (170)

Dhoni is, however, still ahead of Morgan in terms career sixes in all three formats combined. Dhoni has hit a total of 359 sixes while Morgan has 328 maximums to his name.

Overall, Chris Gayle holds the record for maximum sixes in international cricket. He has so far hit 534 sixes in 462 matches and is followed by Shahid Afridi (476), Rohit Sharma (423) and McCullum (398).