Brett Randell takes historic five wickets in five balls in New Zealand

New Zealand bowler Brett Randell has become the first player in the 254-year history of first-class cricket to take five wickets in five consecutive deliveries.

The 30-year-old seamer achieved the unprecedented feat while playing for Central Stags against Northern Districts in the Plunket Shield.

Randell’s devastating spell occurred across two overs on the second day of the match.

He claimed his first victim with the final delivery of his second over before removing four batters with the first four balls of his third.

‘A pinch-me moment’

The right-arm medium pacer’s onslaught caused Northern Districts to collapse spectacularly from 4-0 to 9-5.

“I’m pretty blown away,” said Randell following the day’s play.

“The high was pretty crazy, it was like a pinch-me moment.”

Despite the chaos unfolding around the batters, Randell focused on maintaining his discipline.

“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,” he explained.

An unprecedented spell

At the height of the drama, the Central Stags bowler sat on remarkable figures of 5-2.

He continued to press the advantage, taking a wicket with the first ball of his next over to record six wickets in just eight deliveries.

Randell eventually finished the innings with figures of 7-25.

“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,” Randell added.

“I had no idea that it was the first time it 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.”

Rare company

While Randell stands alone in the first-class record books, similar milestones have recently been reached in limited-overs formats.

Ireland international Curtis Campher became the first male player to achieve the feat in a professional match during a domestic T20 game in July 2025.

Additionally, Zimbabwe Women’s all-rounder Kelis Ndhlovu took five wickets in five balls during a domestic under-19 T20 fixture in 2024.