- The comeback began with the side under pressure
- He turned the game around with a shocking display
A hat-trick is every cricketer’s dream, but an Australian bowler has etched his name in the record book by taking five wickets off five balls in a spell that may never be repeated.
Glen Parker was playing for Brighton in the Victoria Sub-District Cricket Association when his team began losing early runs against Hoopers Crossing last Saturday.
Parker walked to his end, determined not to be hit for 10 runs as he had in his previous over, and began his run.
Then the unthinkable happened. Parker claimed an incredible five wickets in five consecutive deliveries, all at the same venue, a feat that has never been achieved in the association’s 116-year history.
“Pete (captain and coach Pete Cassidy) said the same thing against Port Melbourne: ‘you know what your best ball is, try to sneak one in the door’,” Parker said. news corporation.
“He said the same advice this time and luckily I landed exactly where I wanted, got him through the door and managed to take him down.
‘Last year was the first and this year was more fun. If you are lucky enough to get it, then you will have happy days; If not, you never expect it to happen.
“I think I was a little more relaxed this time.”
Brighton bowler Glen Parker (right) holds up the match-winning ball with captain Peter Cassidy after taking five wickets with five consecutive deliveries in one.
Parker’s astonishing spell included four incredible golden ducks as he destroyed the order.
Parker celebrated one of his five wickets as he turned the match around completely.
The rare triple hat-trick is an achievement that has never been seen in first-class cricket.
New Zealand bowler Neil Wagner scored 5 in an over against Wellington in 2011, the first and only time this has happened in first-class cricket, but not all of them were on consecutive balls.
Surprisingly, there has been another triple hat-trick in Australian cricket, and that too was in Victoria.
Yallourn North’s Nick Gooden achieved the feat against Latrobe in the Central Gippsland competition in 2017.
And what makes his hat-trick even more special is the fact that he had already achieved a hat-trick in his previous spell, taking eight wickets in a 10-ball spell.
“There’s nothing special about it, there’s definitely no rhythm,” Gooden told Weekend Sunrise at the time.
“The general plan when we went out was just to get out as quickly as possible so we could get on the sparkling wines,” he said.
“I told the guys, ‘Let’s walk past these guys, come down and have a beer.’ I think we were having a beer around three o’clock.
Yorkshire’s slow left-arm spinner Hedley Verity holds the record for the best bowling figures in first-class cricket with 10 for 10 against Nottinghamshire in 1932, but it took him a staggering 118 deliveries to take those poles.
Tim Wall holds the Australian record, claiming all 10 wickets for South Australia in a Shield match against New South Wales in 1933. His 10-36 first innings emerged from a paltry 12.4 overs and included the wicket of the great Donald Bradman. for 56.