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Five in five! Brett Randell ‘blown away’ after blowing Northern Districts away in landmark spell
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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Trump announces three-day ceasefire in Russia-Ukraine war
United States President Donald Trump says there will be a three-day ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Posting on Truth Social on Friday, the US leader said the truce would last from Saturday to Monday.
“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump posted.
Soon after, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on X that a three-day truce had been arranged as part of US efforts to negotiate an end to the more than four-year-old war.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov later said “an agreement on this matter was reached during our telephone contacts with the US administration. In turn, US representatives were in contact with Kyiv.” He said the agreement followed a recent telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and Trump, in which the two presidents “emphasised that our countries were allies during World War II and also discussed the possibility of a ceasefire during the Victory Day celebrations.”
Russia had previously announced a two-day unilateral ceasefire to mark its May 9 World War II Victory Day on Saturday. Ukraine previously stated that it too had offered a truce but that this had been ignored by Moscow.
“This request was made directly by me,” Trump said on Friday, thanking his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts for agreeing to it.
“The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II. This Ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prison swap of 1,000 prisoners from each Country,” Trump said. Zelenskyy also confirmed the prisoner swap would take place.
[Aljazeera]
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Heat Index is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the North-central and Eastern provinces and in Mannar, Vavuniya and Monaragala districts during the daytime
Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 08 May 2026, valid for 09 May 2026
The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the North-central and Eastern provinces and in Mannar, Vavuniya and Monaragala districts during the daytime
The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.

Effect of the heat index on the human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.
ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.
Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.
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Finn Allen’s 47-ball ton powers Kolkata Knight Riders to huge win over Delhi Capitals
Kolkata Knight Riders picked up their fourth win on the trot, their spin bowlers (12-0-76-3) capturing Delhi Capitals in a vice-like grip and never letting go Finn Allen made sure that wouldn’t repeat in the second innings. He pulverised DC’s spinners (9-0-102-1) to score his first IPL century even though he only had 143 to chase.
Pathum Nissanka scored a good half-century. He made 50 of DC’s first 85 runs at a strike rate of 172. The other end could only contribute 33 at a strike rate of 103. It was symbolic of how hard it was for a new batter to settle in and how much pressure comes on the set batter on a pitch like this. Even though he was going at a good clip, and had hit the previous ball for four, he still left his crease looking for more and was stumped off Anukul Roy. The left-arm spinner took another wicket, four balls later.
DC were 74 for 2 after eight overs. But only four of those overs were from spin bowlers and three of them were inside the powerplay. Given the comfort of five fielders on the boundary, and a pitch that was slow and turning, Roy, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy started to dictate proceedings. At one point, DC scored just 11 runs in 30 balls. This was between overs 12 to 16. No IPL team in nearly two decades has ever been this sluggish in this period of play.
Roy set this choke up, stumping Nissanka out with a slower and wider delivery and bowling Tristan Stubbs out with the exact opposite of that. That was solid range for a bowler with no mystery about him.
With DC at 89 for 5, Axar Patel in wretched form (his 44 runs, with only three boundaries, are the fewest by any batter this season having faced at least 50 balls) and the conditions not helping run-scoring, all Narine and Varun had to do was what they do so well. Amp up the mystery. Aim at the stumps. Narine finished with 4-0-17-1. Varun, badly limping when he bowled his final over which cost 16 runs, finished with 4-0-28-0.
Ashutosh Sharma broke a boundary drought that last 38 balls in the 17th over. He reverse swept Vaibhav Arora, coming around the wicket, for six in the 19th over. His cameo – 39 off 28 balls – carried KKR to 142 for 8.
For the first time in his IPL career, Allen played through the powerplay. This was his eighth innings. He might have felt bad for running out his captain Ajinkya Rahane when his straight drive flicked Mitchell Starc’s outstretched finger and deflected onto the stumps but he quickly got over it. DC played a part in that a well with Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam bowling balls right in the slot. Allen is superb down the ground and needed no second invitation. From 20 off 17, he launched 10 sixes, the last of them when KKR needed two to win and he needed six to bring up 100.
Allen had a strike rate of 235 against spin (73 off 31). The next best, from both teams, was Rahane with 167, benefiting from playing just three balls and scoring five runs.
In a match where his former team’s spinners held so much sway (economy rate 6.33), Kuldeep suffered, going at 13.66 an over even though he was spared the trouble of bowling in the powerplay. Axar bowled three with the field up and still finished with figures of 4-0-27-1.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 147 for 2 in 14.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 13, Finn Allen 100*, Cameron Green 33*; Axar Patel 1-27 ) beat Delhi Capitals 142 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 50, KL Rahul 23, Axar Patel 11, Ashutosh Sharma 39; Kartik Tyagi 2-25, Anukul Roy 2-31, Vaibhav Arora 1–29, Sunil Narine 1-17, Cameron Green 1-12) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
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