A hat-trick is already a rare enough feat in cricket, but six wickets in six deliveries is unheard of. It is so infrequent that there is not an official term for it. But Gareth Morgan led his side to an incredible comeback victory in the Gold Coast’s premier division three, with the momentous achievement.
A double hat-trick is often considered four wickets in four balls, so six in six could be considered a quadruple hat-trick, either way, it is without precedent.
There were five runs to win with six balls and six wickets in hand remaining when the Mudgeeraba third grade captain brought himself on to bowl towards the end of a clash against Surfers Paradise on Saturday.
Morgan stepped up and took a six-wicket maiden, including five golden ducks. The first one was to dismiss Jake Garland, who had – until that point – notched up 65 runs from 60. That wicket sparked a bizarre series of events.
The next three were caught, at mid-on, mid-wicket, and point respectively, with the final two bowled, to give Morgan incredible figures of seven for just 16 runs.
I didn’t want to let the winning runs come off the younger bowlers because they had bowled so well and didn’t want them to be down on themselves for it, if it was to happen,” Morgan told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
“I knew I had a few overs spare up my sleeve, so I decided to bowl from that end and give one of our young quicks the other end.”
Morgan added: “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.
“When it happened he just sort of looked at me.”
Having taken the first four, Surfers Paradise still needed just five runs with two wickets in hand, but Morgan, as captain led from the front, calmed his side down, and claimed the next two.
Earlier in the match, Morgan had top-scored with 39 from 38 deliveries.
It is not the first time, Morgan has achieved a similar feat, however. His father Huw wrote on the club’s Facebook page saying: “A proud father here. Gareth won’t tell you, but as a young bloke, he once took five wickets in an over! He didn’t get six, because there was only five wickets left at the start of the over.”
In professional cricket the most wickets taken in a single over was five, and it has happened on just three occasions. Neil Wagner for Otago in 2011, Abhimanyu Mithun playing for Karnataka in 2019, and Al-Amin Hossain for a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI in 201.
(The Independent)
