Sydney: an Australian club cricketer took six wickets in an incredible final over to clinch victory in a one-day game over the weekend, describing the rare feat as “surreal”.
Facing almost certain defeat in the Gold Coast’s Premier League Division 3, Mudgeeraba captain Gareth Morgan opted to bowl the last six balls himself with Surfers Paradise needing five runs to win with six wickets in hand.
They dramatically collapsed with Morgan removing opener Jake Garland for 65 then dismissing the next five batters for golden ducks.
“It is funny, the umpire said to me at the start of the over that I needed to take a hat-trick or something to win the game,” Morgan told the Gold Coast Bulletin after his exploits attracted national attention.
“When it happened he just sort of looked at me.”
'Very surreal'
He added to national broadcaster ABC that it was “very surreal”.
“I remember thinking after I got the hat-trick — I don’t want to lose this game now,” he said.
“Then it just went crazy. When I saw the stumps go back on the last ball I couldn’t believe it, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The first four dismissals were all caught, while the final two were bowled.
The most wickets in an over in professional cricket is five, achieved by New Zealand’s Neil Wagner (2011), Bangladesh’s Al-Amin Hossain (2013) and India’s Abhimanyu Mithun (2019), according to ABC.