Cricket: Matt Rowe bowls the perfect over in Palmerston North v Rotorua schoolboy cricket match

Palmerston North Boys’ High School 1st XI bowler Matt Rowe has achieved the rare feat of taking all six wickets in an over against Rotorua Boys High School. Photo / Supplied

By RNZ

A perfect over in cricket is almost unheard of - a holy grail bowlers don’t even think about searching for, it’s so unlikely to happen.

And yet Palmerston North Boys’ High School 1st XI bowler Matt Rowe has achieved the feat, taking all six wickets in the fifth over against Rotorua Boys High School yesterday.

The Year 13 student, who has been invited to camp with the New Zealand Under-19 side, ended with match figures of 9-12 from his six overs, including his incredible fifth over in which a wicket fell for every ball.

“It was a bit crazy to be honest,” Rowe said. “Total disbelief.”

Needing a thumping win to make the Super 8 tournament final in Tauranga, Rowe wasted no time giving his team a good start.

He had his first wicket in his first over, but had to wait until the match’s ninth over, his fifth, for the fireworks to happen.

“I can remember the first couple well,” he said. “First ball he snicked off to a fairly regulation catch at second slip.

“And then, I hit the poles for the rest of them. Four clean bowled, and the last one was an LBW.”

Having had a hat-trick before - three wickets in three balls - Rowe wasn’t too fazed when that milestone approached.

“The umpire - I was talking to him a bit - said ‘I haven’t seen many hat-tricks in my time’.

“I thought, oh I’ll see if I can make it happen for the umpire. That was just the start.”

So how did Rowe feel after his fourth wicket?

“I was sort of like, oh, this is getting a bit serious actually.”

After five?

“Surprise. I was really surprised. I didn’t expect it to happen.”

And the sixth?

“Total disbelief. The boys were all getting around me, it was crazy, to be honest. They were going mental, they were more amazed than I was.”

After bowling six overs in his spell of 9-12, the game ended on a run-out.

Rowe said it was a good way to finish, despite being agonisingly close to a 10-wicket haul.

“I was being too greedy anyway,” he said. “It was good for the boys to get a run-out.”

Rotorua Boys were bowled out for 26, and Palmerston North Boys chased the total in just 2.1 overs.

Coach Scott Davidson said it was an unbelievable display.

“When he knocked the first couple over I was thinking this is great for the team that we’re not going to have to chase too many,” Davidson said.

“I’ve played a lot of cricket, and my manager has been around cricket for a long time, and we just couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

“With every wicket that came the boys were getting more excited, but thankfully Rowey was pretty concentrated on what he had to do and he executed.”

Palmerston North Boys’ High School play Tauranga Boys’ High School today in the final of the Super 8 tournament in Tauranga.