Valentin Guiraud came agonisingly close to the perfect over – only for a no ball to ruin a landmark moment.
The Burford School pupil had taken five wickets with his first five balls of an over against Kingham Hill School.
But he over-stepped when releasing his next delivery, meaning that although he shattered the batsman’s stumps for a sixth successive time, a no ball call cut short his celebrations.
“At the time I didn’t think too much of it, I was just delighted to get five successive wickets,” he said. “But in hindsight, it is a bit gutting.”
- Sport
He added: “The first five were all exactly the same, bowled middle stump.
“The sixth was too, but it doesn’t matter. I’m just so happy with five in a row.”
Guiraud, who plays for Shipton-under-Wychwood in the Cherwell League, only took up cricket five years ago.
“I was born in France, lived there for about six years until I moved to Dubai with my mother,” he explained.
“While there, we met my stepdad, and he got me into cricket when I was 14.
“After we moved to Thailand, I carried on playing and took a hat-trick when I was 16, playing the equivalent of county level in Phuket.
“When my family moved to Saudi Arabia, I didn’t want to go and so was given the option of going to school elsewhere, and so moved over here to Burford School, where I board.”
Head of sport at Burford, Bill Williams, said: “In all my time involved in cricket, I have never seen anything like it.
“In fairness, the no ball call came very early, but it’s still an incredible achievement.”
Guiraud finished with 6-9 as Burford won by 74 runs.
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