Central Districts seamer Brett Randell needed all of five deliveries on Sunday morning in Napier to barge his way into cricket folklore. Bowling with the north-westerly at his back, the 29-year-old removed Northern Districts’ top order in a blur, turning 4 without loss into 9 for 5 and becoming the first player to claim five wickets in five balls in a first-class match.
The spell began with what looked a regulation loosener, only for the ball to jag in late and tap Henry Cooper’s off stump after the opener had shouldered arms. “I was trying to stay level-headed and keep putting the ball in the same area,” Randell said afterwards, still processing the moment. “I had no idea that it was the first time it had happened in the world, it’s seriously cool.”
He stayed over the wicket for the right-hander, then switched around to the left-handed Jeet Raval, who watched his stumps splatter next delivery. In came Joe Carter; a tentative poke nicked through to wicketkeeper Bayley Wiggins. Carter shook his head all the way back, yet the umpire’s finger was already high and Randell suddenly had a hat-trick. Robert O’Donnell fell fourth ball, edging a textbook outswinger to second slip. Kristian Clarke, perhaps keen simply to survive, dabbed at a wide one – inside edge, ricochet into leg stump, and the paceman wheeled away not quite believing the scoreboard: 2.4-1-2-5.
The sixth delivery missed the outside edge by a whisker, and applause around McLean Park finally had a chance to breathe. It didn’t last long. Randell returned an over later to add Ben Pomare and Scott Kuggeleijn, completing six wickets in eight balls – another statistical first – and finishing with a career-best 7 for 25 from 11 overs. Northern Districts, bowled out for 82, were made to follow on 291 behind Central’s earlier 373.
Head coach Rob Walter, speaking to local radio during the change-over, kept things understated. “Brett has always had that heavy ball; today everything just lined up for him.” Simple as it sounded, the figures underline Walter’s point: 23 legal deliveries, seven wickets, two maidens.
Campher and Ndhlovu had done it in T20s
Five-in-five is rare full stop, though it has popped up in the faster format. In 2022 Curtis Campher pulled it off for the Munster Reds in Dublin, and Zimbabwe’s teenage all-rounder Kelis Ndhlovu did likewise in domestic women’s T20 two years later. The longer first-class rhythm, with defensive fields and new-ball spells stretching six or seven overs, makes Randell’s burst feel even more unlikely.
A slice of fortune? Possibly – the Northern Districts top order won’t enjoy the replay. Yet Randell still had to keep hitting that nagging sixth-stump line, and he did so with metronomic accuracy. “It gets drummed into us a lot that we don’t want to go searching for wickets,” he added, crediting the pre-match ‘Plan A’ that demanded patience rather than fancy variations.
Where the match sits
By stumps on day two, the visitors had clawed to 146 for 3 second time round, Raval counter-attacking with a punchy fifty. The contest, then, is not entirely done, though Randell’s name is already inked into the record books whatever happens next.
Cricket, like life, often hides its landmarks in the margins – cool autumn air, a ball that suddenly swings, five blinks of action that spin an innings on its head. Randell, a decent pro sometimes overshadowed by bigger names, found his moment and took it. The scorecard may look neat; the reality was messy, frantic and utterly compelling.
