New Zealand pacer creates jaw-dropping history with 5 wickets in 5 balls in Plunket Shield 2025-26 [Watch]

New Zealand pacer Brett Randell registered his name in the history books by picking up five wickets in as many balls during the ongoing 2025-26 Plunket Shield match. The match is being played between Central Districts and Northern Districts in Napier.

The incident took place during the Northern Districts’ innings. Randell removed Henry Cooper before getting rid of Jeet Raval, Joe Carter, Robert O’Donnell, and Kristian Clarke off his next four balls in the next over to bag a fifer in just five deliveries. It was the first such instance in first-class cricket. With that, the Northern Districts were bundled out for 82 runs in their first innings, giving away a 291-run first innings lead to Central Districts.

Watch the video below:

According to ESPNcricinfo, Curtis Campher (Ireland) also holds the record of picking up five wickets in as many balls, but in T20 cricket. Zimbabwe all-rounder Kelis Ndhlovu has also achieved the feat. In women’s cricket, while playing in the same format.

According to the Guinness World Records, Lasith Malinga (twice for Sri Lanka), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Jason Holder (West Indies), and Curtis Campher (Ireland) have taken four wickets off consecutive balls among full-member teams in international cricket.

“It was like a pinch-me moment” – New Zealand pacer reacts to his unique feat in Plunket Shield

Brett Rendall said he was over the moon after picking up a fifer in a span of five balls in the Plunket Shield match. Calling it a “pinch-me” moment, Randell said (via ESPNcricinfo):

“I’m pretty blown away. The high was pretty crazy; it was like a pinch-me moment. 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.

“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. I had no idea that it was the first time it [five wickets in five balls in first-class cricket] 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.”

In the first-class match, Randell eventually finished with figures of 7/25 in his 11 overs. The medium pacer has bagged 250-plus wickets in domestic cricket across formats. The 30-year-old will be hopeful of getting a chance for New Zealand in international cricket in the near future.