South African cricketer Sean Whitehead managed to achieve the rarely accomplished feat of taking all ten wickets in a first-class innings on November 20. The 24-year-old left-arm spinner recorded figures of 10 for 36 in the second-innings of a first-class match in the rainbow nation.
Playing for South Western Districts against the Easterns, Whitehead helped his team defend the target of only 186 by dismissing the opposition for just 65. The bowler took only 12.1 overs at his end to be edged in the record books.
Only over 50 first-class cricketers in the long history of the game can boast of having scalped all ten breakthroughs in an innings. Whitehead had an outstanding match against the Easterns at Oudtshoorn in Division 2 of the ongoing 4-Day franchise series in South Africa.
Besides his incredible ten-fer in the final innings of the game, he also took a five-wicket haul in the first half, ending with figures of 5 for 64 from his 20.4 overs.
He contributed crucial runs with the bat as well, scoring 66 in the first-innings and 45 in the second-innings of what was a low-scoring fixture.
The South Western Districts side managed scores of only 250 and 193 in their two innings but still secured victory by 120 runs, thanks largely to Whitehead, who not only made 111 runs but also took 15 wickets for just 100 runs in the game.
Whitehead’s figures of 10 for 36 are the second-best in the history of South African domestic cricket. Despite his rich haul, he is behind legspinner Bert Vogler, who bagged his 10 wickets for only 26 runs in a first-class game for Eastern Province at Johannesburg back in 1906 against Griqualand West.
Mario Olivier was the last bowler to record all ten wickets in a first-class match in South Africa, achieving the feat back in 2007.
Whitehead first burst into the limelight at the 2016 edition of the U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, when he averaged 26 for his six wickets over six games for the junior Proteas side.
In first-class cricket, he now has a first-class average of 25.64 with 39 wickets from 13 games, including three five-fers. A promising allround cricketer, he has also made 481 first-class runs while averaging 37 with a hundred and two half-centuries.
