Cricket remains a game of glorious uncertainty. Still, probability usually dictates how things go. Bowlers toil for hours to claim a five-wicket haul. Entire careers pass without a hat-trick. Then there are the moments that defy all logic. A bowler stands at the top of his mark. He runs in six times and sends six batsmen back to the pavilion.
It sounds like a schoolyard daydream. It sounds like something out of a video game, but it actually happens. A tiny, exclusive group of cricketers has achieved the impossible “perfect over.” These men did not just bowl well; they broke the spirit of the other team in just four minutes.
We are looking at the 6-ball, 6-wicket record list. This list of performances is so rare that it feels more like a legend than a statistic. Most occur in the gritty world of club cricket. These games take place far from the television cameras. The pressure builds up in total silence.
The Gold Coast Miracle – Gareth Morgan’s Heroics
November 2023 saw the latest addition to this elite club. It was probably the wildest one yet. The setting was the humid Gold Coast in Australia. Mudgeeraba Nerang & Districts Cricket Club faced Surfers Paradise. The match seemed over.
Surfers Paradise needed only five runs to win the game. They had six wickets left. The result looked like a sure thing. Gareth Morgan, the Mudgeeraba captain, took the ball for the final over. He later admitted why he did it. He only bowled to protect his younger teammates from the stress of a losing game.
Morgan turned the match on its head. The first delivery removed Jake Garland. The opening batsman had made a solid 65 runs. A fielder held the catch. Panic didn’t set in right away, but the second ball changed everything. A fielder took another catch. Two wickets fell in two balls. The third delivery saw the new batsman sky a shot, and a waiting fielder caught it. Morgan bagged a hat-trick. Suddenly, Mudgeeraba believed.
Surfers Paradise still needed one hit to win. They had three wickets left. Morgan ran in for the fourth ball. Another fielder grabbed a catch. The sideline went crazy. The fifth ball smashed into the stumps. It cleaned up the batsman.
Five wickets fell in five balls. The final batter walked out. Fielders stood all around him. They crowded the bat like seagulls around a chip. Morgan delivered the final blow. He shattered the stumps one last time.
Mudgeeraba won by four runs. In six deliveries, Morgan wiped out the entire lower order. So, he earned his spot at the top of the 6-ball, 6-wicket record list. He finished with figures of 7 wickets for 16 runs. Those last six balls defined Morgan’s career.
Aled Carey – The Ballarat Blitz
Before Morgan, another Australian was the talk of the town. Aled Carey played for the Golden Point Cricket Club in Ballarat, Victoria. He had an overview of total destruction in 2017. News outlets worldwide picked up the story. Morgan had final-over drama, but Carey struck in the middle of the innings. His team had set a total of 222. East Ballarat looked comfortable at two wickets for 40 runs.
Carey had bowled eight overs without a wicket. He didn’t look dangerous. Then the ninth over began. The first ball forced an edge to slip. The second ball found the edge again. This time it flew to the wicketkeeper. The third ball hit the batsman on the pad, and it was a clear LBW. Carey had a hat-trick, but he didn’t let up.
The fourth batter missed a straight one. Carey bowled him. The fifth batter met the same fate. Carey bowled him, too. The sixth batter was likely terrified. He watched his stumps fly out of the ground. Carey dismissed the entire tail.
The umpire raised his finger six times in a row. The scorebook for that over read W-W-W-W-W-W. East Ballarat collapsed, as they lost all their wickets for just 40 runs. Carey finished with 6 wickets for 20 runs. For years, he was the main example for anyone looking for this record.
Virandeep Singh – The Malaysian Powerhouse
We move from Australia to Nepal for the next entry. The 2022 Nepal Pro Club Championship was the setting. Malaysian international Virandeep Singh had an unbelievable spell. It was a mix of pure skill and total chaos. Singh played for Malaysia Club XI against Push Sports Delhi. He bowled the last over of the innings.
This over was a bit different. Six wickets fell, but a run-out claimed one batsman. Even so, the sequence was incredible. Singh got the first batsman out, caught. The second delivery led to a messy run-out. The batter was desperate to get off the strike. Singh then went back to dominating. He got the next batter out caught. Then, he bowled the final three batsmen in a row.
Technically, Singh got five wickets in the over. However, the batting side lost six wickets in six legal deliveries. It wiped out the tail and really held back the opposition. Purists might say the run-out ruins the record. Still, that kind of damage belongs on the 6-ball, 6-wicket record list.
The Indian Connection – Junior Prodigies
Fans often look for a 6-ball, 6-wicket record list India connection. They hope to find an IPL star or a big-name legend. High-level Indian cricket hasn’t seen this happen yet. However, the country’s massive local cricket scene has produced its own heroes.
The most famous recent performance came from Harshit Seth. He played in a 2021 U-19 tournament in Dubai. Seth played for the Dubai Cricket Council Starlets. The match was in the UAE, but Seth is an Indian talent.
He completely fooled the Hyderabad Hawks Academy batsmen. He took six wickets in the over. Seth tore through the team with clever spin bowling. His double hat-trick showed that India is still producing great spinners.
Further back, local news reported a similar feat in 2009. Gagandeep Singh was a young left-arm spinner. He played for Billabong High International School in Mumbai. He took six wickets in six balls during the Adam’s Trophy. Singh polished off the tail with no mercy. These stories are important. They show that on local grounds across India, bowlers pull off miracles that don’t always make the big news.
Why not in International cricket?
Why do stars like Shane Warne or Jasprit Bumrah never show up here? It’s mostly about the quality of the batsmen. In Test cricket, even the number 11 knows how to bat a bit. They can block a good ball. They play with a straight bat.
In club cricket, the skill level varies. Batters panic faster. Two or three wickets often lead to a total meltdown. Amateur batsmen sometimes don’t have the nerves to survive the next ball. They swing wildly or just freeze up. This lets bowlers like Morgan or Carey walk all over them.
International bowlers have come close. Lasith Malinga took four wickets in four balls in 2007. He beat the bat on the fifth ball. It missed the stumps by a fraction of an inch. If that ball had hit the stumps, he would have been on track for six.
Neil Wagner once took five wickets in an over in a First-Class match. He took wickets on the first, second, third, fourth, and sixth balls. Just one dot ball on the fifth delivery stopped a perfect over.
The anatomy of a perfect over
A perfect over needs everything to go right at once. First, the bowler has to be accurate. You can’t bowl a wide or a no-ball. That adds balls to the over and breaks the streak. Second, the fielders have to be perfect. One dropped catch ends the run. Morgan’s fielders held on to four tough catches. Carey needed his keeper and slips to be sharp.
Third, the other team has to fall apart. In almost every case, the batting side suffers a mental breakdown. The new batsmen don’t even have time to get ready. The bowler is already running in. This creates a feeling where the batsman feels like he is already out before the ball is even bowled.
The legacy of the list
The names on this list aren’t world-famous. They aren’t Kohli or Cummins, but they did something the superstars haven’t. They reached perfection. They lived every bowler’s biggest dream.
This record is a reminder for every weekend cricketer. The game always gives you a shot at being a hero. You might be out of form. You might go weeks without a wicket, but cricket is a funny game. All it takes is one over. The rhythm feels right, the ball swings perfectly, and the batsmen lose their heads.
So, stand at the top of your mark. Look at the stumps. You are only six good balls away from making history.
