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Five in five! Brett Randell ‘blown away’ after blowing Northern Districts away in landmark spell

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Brett Randell picked up five wickets in five balls [Cricinfo]

Central Districts fast bowler Brett Randell has created history by becoming the first bowler in the history of first-class cricket to pick up five wickets in five balls. He recorded the feat on day two of a Plunkett Shield game against Northern Districts in Napier on Sunday.

In a spell from hell, Randell ran through the Northern Districts top-order, as they slipped from 4 for no loss to 9 for 5 in the space of five Randell deliveries.

Randell started the slide with the last ball of his second over when he removed opener Henry Cooper with a peach of an in-dipper that swung in late and crashed into Cooper’s off pole, the batter having shouldered arms.

With the first ball of his next over, Randell went around the wicket to Jeet Raval, and left his stumps in a mess. Randell then claimed a hat-trick with Joe Carter caught behind, though the batter looked displeased with the decision. There was no doubt with his fourth wicket when Robert O’Donnell edged Randell’s outswinger to Curtis Heaphy in the slips.

Randell then added a fifth wicket in five balls to his tally when Kristian Clarke flirted at a delivery well outside off, got a thin inside-edge with the ball bouncing back onto his stumps and disturbing his leg bail. Randell’s bowling figures at this stage read a barely believable 2.4-1-2-5. Ben Pomare denied Randell a sixth wicket in six, but history had already been made by then.

Soon after, Randell also became the first to take six wickets in eight balls in first-class cricket

“I’m pretty blown away. The high was pretty crazy, it was like a pinch-me moment,” Randell said after his feat. “I was trying to stay level-headed and keep putting the ball in the same area and then after the actual hat-trick, just the same things — trying to put the ball in the same area.

“It gets drummed into us a lot that we don’t want to go searching for wickets, so I was trying to just keep bowling the same ball, and our ‘Plan A’ that we’d talked about, and it came off.

“I had no idea that it was the first time it [five wickets in five balls in first-class cricket] had happened in the world, it’s seriously cool. I mean, I don’t really have any words at the moment, to be honest. I’ll take it.”

Randell needed just 3.5 overs to complete his seven-wicket haul, adding the wickets of Pomare and Scott Kuggeleijn. He finished with career-best figures of 7 for 25 in 11 overs. Northern Districts were skittled for just 82 and were asked to follow-on after Central Districts had scored 373 in their first innings.

While Randell is the first bowler in first-class cricket to pick five in five, the feat has been achieved in T20 cricket before by Curtis Campher, who took five in five while playing for Munster Reds against North-West Warriors in the Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy in Dublin.

Zimbabwe Women allrounder Kelis Ndhlovu had also picked up five wickets in five balls for Zimbabwe U-19 against Eagles Women in the domestic T20 tournament in 2024.

As it turns out, Randell may not have played had the seniors been available. Central Districts’ New Zealand bowlers Ajaz Patel (calf) and Blair Tickner (ankle) were unavailable for selection because of injuries. Two other contracted players, Tyler Annand and Joey Field, were also unavailable for selection.

[Cricinfo]



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Sun directly overhead Kokkuvil, Nallur, Kodikamam and Nagar Kovil at about 12.11 noon today (28)

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The sun is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 28th of August to 07th of September due to its apparent southward relative motion.

The nearest places of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (28) are Kokkuvil, Nallur, Kodikamam and Nagar Kovil about 12.11 noon.

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More than 360 dead, 1,400 missing in Nepal and Tibet after Himalayan floods

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A drone view shows mud covering buildings and property following devastating floods at Trishuli in Nuwakot district, Nepal, on August 27, 2026 [Aljazeera]

Some 360 bodies have been recovered and more than 1,400 people are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region after a huge collapse of mud and rock into a Himalayan river triggered catastrophic flooding across local towns and valleys, authorities have said.

Rescue teams waded through mud on Thursday searching for the missing, as authorities in Nepal said at least 359 people have been killed there.

At least three people have died in the neighbouring Tibet region.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived at the mudslide site in Tibet on Thursday afternoon to “guide emergency rescue and relief work” a day after the disaster, state media reported.

Nepalese police and tourism officials said that more than 500 foreigners were among 910 people missing in Nepal.

Among the missing are tourists from more than two dozen countries: 177 are from India, 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom, and 25 from Canada.

Beijing’s foreign ministry also said nearly 100 Chinese nationals were among the missing in Nepal.

In Tibet’s Gyirong county, 558 people are reported missing, including 260 foreign nationals, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Search and rescue operations are proving to be a “massive challenge” as just simply “getting to the affected areas … to try and recover the survivors”, is proving to be extremely difficult as the roads and bridges there have suffered extensive damage, said Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.

[Aljazeera]

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Unyielding Dinusha, spirited tail hold off India to save Colombo Test

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Dinusha hit his second century of the Test to wear out India [SLC]
Sonal Dinusha put up an impressive resistance to keep the Indian bowlers at bay on the final day, helping Sri Lanka save the second Test in Colombo after they were asked to follow-on. In a seven-hour vigil, Dinusha remained unbeaten on 133 and, with handy lower order support, ensured that India didn’t bat a second time in the Test. This was the first time in nine occasions that India failed to secure a victory after enforcing a follow-on against Sri Lanka.
Needing only four wickets on the final day in order to begin the chase, the Indian bowlers had to toil hard on a surface which offered a bit of turn, but largely predictable pace and bounce. Overnight batters Dinusha and Keshara Nuwantha kept the Indians all through the morning session even though the new ball was taken within the first half an hour of play.
The seventh-wicket stand stretched to 88 runs, consuming more than 40 overs, which also ensured Sri Lanka cleared the first innings deficit. The first strike of the day came soon after the lunch break when Manav Suthar got a delivery to spin in sharply and took the outside edge of Nuwantha’s bat to the second slip.
Prabath Jayasuriya continued to remain defiant, resisting for 28 balls before his attempted drive off Ravindra Jadeja took the outside edge to Dhruv Jurel at second slip. Even as the lead swelled past the 150-run mark with only two wickets remaining and nearly a session and a half to play, the Indians had enough incentive to go for the kill.

However, Lahiru Kumara provided much-needed support to Dinusha as the duo put an end to India’s hopes. The southpaw used the sweep to good effect to counter the turn. The duo chewed up 169 deliveries for 47 runs in a period of attritional batting, during which Dinusha brought up his century. Kumara did provide India a chance when he attempted a slog sweep which fell in front of Jurel at deep mid wicket soon after Dinusha reached his century. But that was a rare opportunity.
Kumara eventually departed on 12 when an inside edge was pouched at short leg by Yashasvi Jaiswal. Nonetheless, which the number of overs reducing, Dinusha took Sri Lanka till the end of day without any further trouble and helped avoid a whitewash.
Brief scores:
India 503/9 decl (Devdutt Padikkal 117, Dhruv Jurel 115; Asitha Fernando 4-106, Prabath Jayasuriya 2-132) drew with  Sri Lanka 290 (Sonal Dinusha 103, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80; Prasidh Krishna 3-52, Manav Suthar 3-85) and  429/9 f/o (Sonal Dinusha 133*, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 92; Ravindra Jadeja 3-94, Manav Suthar 3-121)
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