First cricketer to take six wickets in a six-ball over

Australian club cricketer Aled Carey took six wickets in six balls playing for Golden Point Cricket Club against East Ballarat Cricket Club in a Ballarat Cricket Association fourth-team fixture in Victoria, Australia, on 21 January 2017. Nine-man East Ballarat were on 40 for 2 when Carey began his memorable ninth over. A slip catch, a snick through to the wicket-keeper and an lbw decision completed his first hat-trick, and he took three more wickets – all clean bowled – with the final three deliveries of the match.

Carey’s single-over heroics were replicated by another Australian club cricketer, Gareth Morgan, on 11 November 2023 when he took six wickets with the final six deliveries of a Premier League Division 3 match as captain of Mudgeeraba Nerang & Districts’ Cricket Club, playing against Surfers Paradise Cricket Club at the Corbwood No.2 ground in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Chasing Mudgeeraba’s 178 all out, Surfers Paradise were cruising to victory on 174 for 4 when Morgan – who had earlier plundered a run-a-ball 39 with the bat – dismissed four batters caught out and then finished the job with the last two wickets clean bowled as “The Bushmen” snatched a four-run win from the jaws of defeat.

Three players have taken five wickets in an over in a professional cricket match – New Zealand’s Neil Wagner for Otago in 2011, Al-Amin Hossain for a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI in 2013 and India’s Abhimanyu Mithun for Karnataka in 2019 – but the exploits of Carey and Morgan for their Australian club sides are believed to be the only examples of a player taking wickets with every delivery of a six-ball over.

Aled Carey – not to be confused with Australia’s international all-rounder Alex Carey – finished with figures of 6 for 20 from nine overs, with a match official writing “Perfect” in the scorebook after the six red crosses that appeared in Carey’s bowling analysis. “Buy the man a beer,” demanded one contributor on Mudgeeraba’s Facebook page as Morgan’s rare feat made headlines across the globe. “Build the man a statue,” replied another. The local council worker took 7 for 16 from the six overs he bowled, completing his first hat-trick with the wicket of his opposing captain.