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In a cricket match, a hat-trick is considered a very rare phenomenon. It requires very precise and accurate bowling by the bowler to achieve it. That’s why a very limited number of bowlers have been able to take it in international cricket and get themselves etched to the record. An even rarer moment for a bowler is one where it is more than a hat-trick. One such moment was created in an Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy match in Ireland, when that rare feat of more than a hat-trick occurred.
In the match played between Munster Reds and North-West Warriors in the Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy in Ireland, Irish all-rounder Curtis Campher became the first man in professional cricket to take five wickets in five balls. He achieved the feat for Munster Reds when they were defending a total of 188. When he started scalping the batsmen, North-West Warriors slumped from 87/5 to 88 all out in their chase and lost the match by 100 runs. Munster Reds skipper ended with a figure of 5 for 16 from 2.3 overs. He also gave a stellar performance with the bat, as he scored 44 off 24 balls before his five-for.
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Curtis Campher has took four wickets in four balls in T20Is
Curtis Campher is also in an exclusive list of bowlers to take four wickets in four balls in T20Is, which was against the Netherlands in 2021. His five-for against the North-West Warriors started with the wicket of Jared Wilson, who got out on the penultimate delivery of the 12th over when Campher got the ball to swing in and crash into off stump. In the next ball, Graham Hume got out lbw on the back foot as another inswinger hit him on the pads. On his hat-trick ball, Andy McBrine mistimed a slog towards midwicket on the first ball of Campher’s next over. The wicket taking spree continued as he dismissed number 10 batsman Robbie Miller in a caught behind stumps wicket. The last wicket was of Josh Wilson, who missed a round the wicket attack by Campher and got bowled.
This was Campher’s second match after the finger injury ruled him out of the ODI and T20I series against West Indies. In his comeback match against Leinster Lightning on Tuesday, he scored 57 off 35 balls but did not bowl. In domestic cricket, Campher is not the first person to take such a five-for, Zimbabwe women all-rounder Kelis Ndhlovu took five wickets in five balls for Zimbabwe U-19 against Eagles women's team in a domestic T20 tournament in 2004.
