1st In 254 Years! New Zealand Pacer Creates World Record With 'Never Seen Before' Feat

Brett Randell achieves massive feat [Source: X]

We all know how iconic Yuvraj Singh's six sixes in an over were. However, can a bowler do the same with the ball? Probably not, yet Brett Randell has scripted something that was never seen before in history.

The New Zealand pacer became the first player in the 254-year history of first-class cricket to achieve a feat so enormous that it can hardly be believed by human eyes.

Brett Randell, while bowling on Sunday for the Central Districts cricket team against the Northern Districts cricket team on day two of New Zealand's Plunket Shield four-day match at McLean Park, scripted a historic feat only dreamt of by bowlers.

New Zealand Talent Achieves Feat Only Dreamt By Bowlers

A feat like a hat-trick is rare in both domestic and international cricket, and Randell managed to achieve something even tougher than that.

Brett, born in 1995 in Auckland and a right-arm medium pacer, was impressive in the Ford Trophy 2025–26, where he took 13 wickets from his seven innings at an economy rate of 5.02.

He had several three-wicket hauls alongside tight bowling that led his team, the Central Stags, to many victories. Even in the final match, he managed to take one wicket while giving away 51 runs. In the Super Smash too, he was brilliant with his nine-wicket haul from nine matches.

But the Plunket Shield feat gave Brett a crown that no one in recent or past history has ever managed to claim. The New Zealand pacer managed to pick five wickets in five successive deliveries in the massive history of first-class cricket.

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As per the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, the feat hasn't been achieved since what it and many other historians recognise as the first documented first-class match played back in 1772.

Brett Randell Takes Five Wickets In Five Successive Deliveries

Randell was relentless with the ball as he packed off batters in Northern Districts' first innings. First, he dismissed Henry Cooper for just one run with a searing delivery that came swinging in from outside the off stump and bamboozled Cooper, who shockingly saw the ball crash onto the stumps, a delivery he had initially thought of leaving.

The second delivery claimed skipper Jeet Raval, who was also sent back for six runs as the New Zealand pacer bowled a full-length delivery swinging into the stumps. Raval, attempting to play a drive, miscued it as the ball slipped between his bat and pads to crash onto the off stump.

The very next ball had Joe Carter as his victim, who was out for a golden duck, alongside Robert O'Donnell, who again was gone for a golden duck. Both were dismissed in the same manner, an outswinging delivery that caught the edge of the batters and was eventually caught by the wicketkeeper and the first slip respectively.

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@exceedingxpuns

Five wickets in five balls for Central Districts' Brett Randell – the first-ever instance in first-class cricket!

Mar 8, 2026, 7:07 AM

The New Zealand pacer took a moment to celebrate his hat-trick after Carter's wicket but continued the destruction after that. At that point, Northern Districts were struggling at three wickets for just nine runs.

Kristian Clark, who came in next, was also dismissed, but in a bizarre fashion where luck seemed to have sided with Brett Randell. The ball, grazing past Clark's bat, trickled down onto his stumps to make the bails shatter, which ultimately completed Randell's five wickets in five successive deliveries

Randell Finishes With 7 Figures

This was a massive moment, with Northern Districts reduced to five wickets for just nine runs. Then Ben Pomare and Scott Kuggeleijn couldn't hold on much longer either, as Randell dismissed them as well to finish with a seven-wicket haul in the innings. 

Eventually, Northern Districts were dismissed for 82 runs as they were forced to follow on by Central Districts. 

New Zealand pacer Brett Randell's iconic record is the first of its kind in cricket, as no other bowler has ever managed to take five wickets from five successive balls.

Although there have been players who stunned batters with four wickets from four successive deliveries, including Lasith Malinga against South Africa national cricket team in an ODI match back in 2007, the feat achieved by Randell is truly extraordinary.

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