Many bowlers can only dream of achieving a hat-trick in a match. To send three batsmen back to the dressing room in a row is an exceptional achievement; whether you play for your country, club or school.
Now an Australian club player Gareth Morgan pushed things into the red as it were by taking six wickets in six balls.
Moreover, he achieved this remarkable feat in the last over of a Premier League Division 3 match to seal the showdown for his team by four runs.
Surfers Paradise was on course to win its duel against Mudgeeraba at a trot. The surfers with the leg shooters only needed one boundary hit to walk off the field as victors, while there were still a bunch of batsmen waiting along the field to pull the cart through the drift.
However, Morgan had other plans.
As captain of the Mudgeeraba eleven, he decided that one of the team’s young bowlers would not benefit at all if the winning runs from his bowling were smashed. That’s why he decided to take the bull by the horns instead.
What followed not only made the headlines of the local newspaper, but also those of international publications.
With his first delivery, Morgan took the wicket of Jake Garland.
Surfers Paradise’s opener tried to win the match with one big shot but was caught on 65 with his score.
Afterwards Connor Matheson and Michael Curtin also had to make their way back to the dressing room and within the blink of an eye the Mudgeeraba leader boasted three wickets in the innings.
“When I scored the hat-trick, I told myself that I really don’t want to lose the game now,” Morgan said after the matchup.
He must have already put in hopelessly too much effort on a Saturday afternoon, hasn’t he?
Wade McDougall was then caught behind off point as he clean bowled Riley Eckersley and Bordie Phelan.
“When I saw the wickets explode with the last delivery, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Morgan continued Sydney Morning Herald said.
“Funnily enough, the referee joked in the run-up to my turn that only a hat-trick could end the game for Mudgeeraba. When the sixth wicket fell, he just looked at me – quite stunned!”
- Neil Wagner, Al-Amin Hossain and Abhimany Mithun still hold the record for most wickets in one innings of a professional cricket match when they took five wickets in six balls for their respective teams.
