Five wickets in five balls! Curtis Campher creates history

Ireland allrounder Curtis Campher has become the first man in professional cricket to take five wickets in five balls. He achieved the feat for Munster Reds against North-West Warriors in the Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy, finishing with 5 for 16 from 2.3 overs.

Campher, the Munster Reds captain, took his five wickets across his second and third overs as Warriors slumped from 87 for 5 to 88 all out in their chase of 189. Jared Wilson, the first of the five wickets, was out off the penultimate delivery of the 12th over when Campher got the ball to swing in and crash into off stump. Next ball, Graham Hume was trapped lbw on the back foot as another inswinger hit him on the pads. That put Campher on a hat-trick at the start of his next over, and it came when Andy McBrine miscued a slog towards deep midwicket on the first ball of the 14th over.

The wicket-taking streak continued when No. 10 Robbie Millar was out caught behind first ball, trying to poke at a delivery outside off stump, after which No. 11 Josh Wilson couldn't keep the ball from hitting the stumps as Campher came around the wicket.

"Because of the change of overs, I wasn't really sure what was happening," Campher said of his achievement. "I just kind of stuck to my guns and kept it real simple and luckily it kind of went off."

When asked if he would have been able to do six in six if there was another batter to come, Campher said: "No, I don't think so. It is what it is. Take the rough with the smooth. Just happy to be out there in the sun."

This was Campher's second match after a finger injury had ruled him out of the ODI and T20I series against West Indies. In his comeback match, against Leinster Lightning on Tuesday, he had scored 57 off 35 balls but did not bowl. On Thursday, too, he scored 44 off 24 balls before his five-for.

"Performances aside, it has been really good just to be around the boys," he said. "When you get injured, it's a bit of a dark place, when you get into the gym and stuff like that. So it has been really nice, just been treated with the weather too. So I have been really enjoying myself and putting pressure on myself to do well and it has kind of made me work for the last little bit."

Campher, who is also part of an elite list of bowlers to take four wickets in four balls in T20 internationals, however, is not the first person to achieve this feat. That honour belongs to Zimbabwe Women allrounder Kelis Ndhlovu who took five wickets in five balls for Zimbabwe U-19 against Eagles Women in the domestic T20 tournament in 2024.