Ireland’s Curtis Campher delivers historic bowling performance

Ireland all-rounder Curtis Campher pulled off a stunning piece of cricketing history by taking five wickets in just five balls — a first for any male player in professional cricket.

He achieved the rare feat on Thursday while playing for Munster Reds in a Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy clash against the North-West Warriors in Dublin.

Munster Reds won the match in question by 100 runs.

Campher began his spell by bowling Jared Wilson and trapping Graham Hume lbw to end the 12th over, then returned in the 14th to complete a hat-trick with the dismissal of Andy McBrine, before removing Robbie Millar and Josh Wilson to finish the streak.

"I wasn’t really sure what was happening," he told Cricket Ireland. "I just kind of stuck to my guns and kept it real simple and luckily it kind of went off."

Zimbabwe women’s all-rounder Kelis Ndhlovu was the first to achieve the rare feat, after she claimed five wickets in five consecutive balls during a domestic under-19 T20 match against Eagles Women in 2024.