New Zealand bowler makes first-class cricket history with five wickets in five balls

Randall took the first of his five consecutive wickets at the end of his second over and the rest from the start of his third over as Northern Districts fell from 4-0 to 9-5.

The right-arm medium-pacer had figures of 5-2 at this point and also took a wicket with the first ball of the third over, making it six wickets in eight balls.

He dismissed another batsman with the fifth ball of the third over and finished the match with figures of 7-25.

“It’s too much of an impact on us that we don’t want to go looking for wickets, so I was just trying to keep bowling the same ball and our ‘Plan A’ that we talked about and it worked,” Randall said.

“I had no idea this was the first time [five wicket in five balls in first-class cricket] Something like this happened in the world, it was truly wonderful.

“I’m honestly at a loss for words right now. I’ll take it.”

While this is the first time a player has achieved this feat in first-class cricket, it is not the first time a player has taken five wickets in five balls across all formats.

Ireland international Curtis Campher became the first male player to do so in a professional match, in a domestic T20 match in July 2025.

Zimbabwe Women’s all-rounder Kelis Ndhlovu had previously taken five wickets in five balls in the under-19 T20 in 2024.