Curtis Campher probably expected a gentle run-out after a month on the physio’s table. Instead, the Ireland all-rounder walked off with a slice of cricket history, taking five wickets in five deliveries for Munster Reds against North-West Warriors in the Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy. His figures – 5 for 16 from 2.3 overs – finished the Warriors for 88 in pursuit of 189 and, for now at least, put his name alone in the men’s record books.
The burst straddled two overs. With Warriors 87 for 5, Campher knocked back Jared Wilson’s off stump with a late inswinger to end the 12th. Next ball, Graham Hume was pinned on the back foot, lbw to another one that ducked in. After the break between overs – and a few puzzled looks from team-mates trying to remember the count – Campher returned. Andy McBrine miscued a slog to deep midwicket: hat-trick complete. No. 10 Robbie Millar fenced the very next ball to the keeper, and No. 11 Josh Wilson lost his off pole from around the wicket. Five balls, five wickets, queue the hugs.
“Because of the change of overs, I wasn’t really sure what was happening,” Campher admitted. “I just kind of stuck to my guns and kept it real simple and luckily it kind of went off.”
Would he have fancied six in six had there been another batter? “No, I don’t think so. It is what it is. Take the rough with the smooth. Just happy to be out there in the sun.”
The achievement arrives quickly after a broken finger cost him Ireland’s ODI and T20I series against West Indies. On Tuesday he marked his return with 57 off 35 against Leinster Lightning; on Thursday he added 44 off 24 before getting the ball in his hand. The tight turnaround, he says, has been as much about mood as numbers.
“Performances aside, it has been really good just to be around the boys,” he said. “When you get injured, it’s a bit of a dark place, when you get into the gym and stuff like that. So it has been really nice, just been treated with the weather too. So I have been really enjoying myself and putting pressure on myself to do well and it has kind of made me work for the last little bit.”
Five in five is uncharted territory in the men’s game, yet women’s cricket got there first. Zimbabwe’s Kelis Ndhlovu managed the trick in a domestic T20 last year. Campher is already among the handful who have taken four in four at international level; this latest haul only deepens a reputation for sudden impact.
The Reds, now top of the table, will still want their captain fully fit rather than merely heroic. For the Warriors, a chase that once demanded 102 off 48 balls vanished in the space of 90 frantic seconds – a reminder that even in T20, rhythm can desert you quicker than the scoreboard changes. No fuss, little fanfare, just five brisk balls from a man who, an hour earlier, was easing back into things.
