It’s a cricketing miracle that might sit alongside Ian Botham 1981 or Ben Stokes 2019. However as a substitute of Headingley, this newest unimaginable comeback befell within the humble environment of the Carrara Group Centre on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Membership facet Surfers Paradise had victory of their grasp towards Mudgeeraba within the Gold Coast’s Premier League Division Three. Chasing 179, they wanted simply 5 runs from the ultimate over with six wickets in hand to win.
Mudgeeraba captain Gareth Morgan had different concepts, taking six wickets in six balls to seal the unlikeliest of victories.
“It’s humorous, the umpire mentioned to me in the beginning of the over that I wanted to take a hat-trick or one thing to win the sport,” Morgan instructed the Gold Coast Bulletin.
“When it occurred he simply form of checked out me.”
The chaos started when opener Jake Garland, a reporter for the Gold Coast Bulletin, smacked the ball straight to mid-wicket to depart for 65. The following two batters have been caught at mid-on and brief mid-wicket to make it three in a row – however Morgan was not accomplished there.
“I keep in mind considering after I received the hat-trick – I do not wish to lose this sport now. Then it simply went loopy,” mentioned Morgan.
The following batter was caught to level to go away Surfers Paradise wobbling on 174-8. Morgan then wanted no additional assist from his team-mates within the subject, with the ultimate two batters clear bowled.
“Once I noticed the stumps return on the final ball I could not consider it, I’ve by no means seen something prefer it,” he mentioned.
For reporter Garland, he had damaged a golden rule of journalism by turning into a part of the story. Not that he minded an excessive amount of on this event.
“I imply all you possibly can actually do now could be giggle about it,” he wrote on X, previously Twitter. “All the time needed to be a part of historical past with sport someway, did not suppose it will be for that reason.”
Extremely, this isn’t the primary time Morgan has been concerned in some bowling heroics.
Writing on the membership’s Fb web page, Morgan’s father Huw mentioned: “A proud father right here. Gareth will not inform you, however as a younger bloke, he as soon as took 5 wickets in an over! He did not get six, as a result of there was solely 5 wickets left in the beginning of the over.”
Probably the most wickets taken in an over {of professional} cricket is 5, which has been achieved on three events, Neil Wagner taking part in for Otago in 2011, Al-Amin Hossain for a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI in 2013 and Abhimanyu Mithun for Indian state facet Karnataka in 2019.