Brett Randell took five wickets in five balls and finished with 7/25 for Central Districts in a Plunket Shield match.
New Zealand pacer Brett Randell created history in first-class cricket with five wickets in five balls. The Central Districts bowler achieved the feat during the Plunket Shield match against Northern Districts at McLean Park. Randell continued the remarkable spell and took his sixth wicket in the eighth delivery. He then removed another batter with his 12th ball to reach seven wickets in total.
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Randell finished the innings with outstanding figures of 7/25. Only Bryan Yuile has recorded better innings figures for Central Districts with 9 for 100 in 1966.
BRETT RANDELL, a day to remember!
— Central Stags 🏏 (@CentralStags) March 8, 2026
• Hat-trick
• 5 wickets in 5 balls – a world first in 1st-class🏏
• Career best 7/25
• Stags' 2nd best all-time haul 🦌
• Stags best all-time haul by a pace bowler#brettrandell #plunketshield #lovethestags pic.twitter.com/lkSuUDxu8x
During the tea break, Brett Randell reflected on his historic bowling spell. The Central Districts pacer admitted he initially struggled to believe his achievement. Randell said the moment felt unreal while the wickets kept falling. Randell also revealed that he only later realised the significance of the feat.
“I’m pretty blown away. The high was pretty crazy; it was like a pinch-me moment. I was trying to stay level-headed and keep putting the ball in the same area, and then after the actual hat-trick, just the same things — trying to put the ball in the same area. It gets drummed into us a lot that we don’t want to go searching for wickets, so I was trying to just keep bowling the same ball, and our ‘Plan A’ that we’d talked about, and it came off,” he told nzc.nz.
“I had no idea that it was the first time it [five wickets in five balls in first-class cricket] had happened in the world, it’s seriously cool. I mean, I don’t really have any words at the moment, to be honest. I’ll take it,” he added.
Randell did not take a wicket in the second innings. He will still hope to finish the match with a total of 10 wickets.
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