Brett Randell Takes 5 Wickets in 5 Balls in First-Class Match

New Zealand fast bowler Brett Randell etched his name into cricket history on Sunday by becoming the first player to take five wickets in five consecutive deliveries in a first-class match. The 30-year-old achieved the unprecedented feat during the second day of a Plunket Shield encounter between Central Districts and Northern Districts at McLean Park in Napier.

Playing for Central Districts, known as the Stags, Randell dismantled the Northern Districts top order with a devastating spell of right-arm seam bowling. Northern Districts were replying to Central's first-innings total of 373 when Randell struck. He began by dismissing opener Henry Cooper with the final ball of his second over. The very next delivery, the first of his third over, saw him bowl former New Zealand Test opener Jeet Raval. Randell completed a hat-trick on the following ball when Joe Carter was caught behind. Robbie O'Donnell fell to the next delivery, caught in the slips, and Kristian Clarke, a current New Zealand seamer and international all-rounder, became the fifth victim, bowled off an inside edge to leg stump.

At that point, Randell had claimed five wickets for just two runs, with Northern Districts...