Five wickets in five balls! New Zealander creates cricket history with absurd feat

New Zealander Brett Randell has made history during a Plunket Shield match in Napier on Sunday morning, becoming the first cricketer to take five wickets across five deliveries in a first-class contest.

The 30-year-old achieved the feat, also known as a triple hat-trick, during Central Districts’ ongoing match against reigning champions Northern Districts at McLean Park, ripping through the top order in a chaotic collapse of 7-7 across 24 deliveries.

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Randell snared his first wicket on the final delivery of his second over, when rival opener Henry Cooper left an in-ducker that clipped the top of off stump, departing for 1.

On the first delivery of his next over, Northern Districts captain Jeet Raval, who played 24 Tests for the Black Caps, was bowled through the gate for 6 to become Randell’s second victim.

The right-armed seamer secured a hat-trick when Joe Carter was given out caught behind for a golden duck, although slow-motion replays suggested the delivery may have flicked the batter’s arm rather than his bat, with Carter shaking his head as the umpire raised the dreaded finger.

Robbie O’Donnell was also dismissed for a golden duck after edging towards the slips cordon, with Randell securing his five-wicket haul when Kristian Clarke made a belated decision to leave a wide delivery, with the inside edge bouncing onto the top of the stumps.

Randell claimed another two wickets in his following over, removing wicketkeeper Ben Pomare for a third-ball duck and Test bowler Scott Kuggeleijn for 2, at one stage boasting the absurd figures of 7-4 from 4.5 overs, with Northern Districts in dire straits at 7-11.

However, Bharat Popli and Tim Pringle revived the innings, somewhat, with a 56-run partnership for the eighth wicket, ensuring Northern Districts avoided the unwanted record of lowest team total in Plunkett Shield history of 46, achieved by Auckland in 2011.

Central Districts enforced the follow-on after bowling out Northern Districts for 82, the team’s lowest-ever Plunkett Shield score, while Randell finished with a career-best 7-25 from 11 overs, the province’s second-best bowling figures in the competition’s history.

Earlier in the match, Central Districts posted 373 in their first innings, with wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver scoring a 137-ball 109.

Last year, Irish fast bowler Curtis Campher became the first cricketer to take five wickets across five deliveries in a T20 match, achieved in the Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy, while Zimbabwe’s Kelis Ndhlovu completed the rare feat in a domestic Under-19 T20 match in 2024.

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