A Pair of Michelle Pfeiffers
One Michelle pops up every now and then, but two in the same innings is much rarer.
IMAGE: Actress Michelle Pfeiffer
Victorian quicks Fergus O’Neill and Mitchell Perry joined an exclusive club at the end of last week, with the pair both taking five wickets – colloquially known as a Michelle (Pfeiffer) – in the first innings of their latest Sheffield Shield match against Queensland at the MCG.
After skipper Peter Handscomb won the toss and elected to bowl, O’Neill struck three times in the ninth over, removing Bryce Street (2 off 28), Angus Lovell (0 off 3), and Jack Clayton (0 off 2) to leave Queensland reeling at 3-16.
Former Test opener Matt Renshaw and BBL|11 Player of the Tournament Ben McDermott (16 off 30) steadied the ship slightly, adding another 40 runs before Perry claimed the latter with the first ball of the 19th over. Jimmy Peirson became Perry’s second victim two balls later without troubling the scorers.
Jack Wildermuth (17 off 43) was O’Neill’s fourth wicket, coming in the 32nd over, and when Perry had Renshaw caught behind (59 off 99) in the 39th over, Queensland were in all sorts at 7-108.
Some late hitting from Mark Steketee (44* from 40) added some much-needed runs to Queensland’s total before the Bulls were bowled out for 172.
O’Neill finished with 5-51 from 15.3 overs, while Perry took 5-33 off 14.
IMAGE: Victorian Cricket Team on X.
This was the 26th time two teammates took five wickets in the same innings in the Sheffield Shield. The last time this happened was back in the 2002/03 season, when NSW pair Stuart MacGill (5/112 off 26.2) and Simon Katich (5/45 off 14) accounted for all ten wickets in Western Australia’s second innings.
You have to go back even further to find the last time this happened in the first innings of the match, way back to the 1995/96 season when another two New South Welshmen, David Freeman (5/91) and Greg Matthews (5/134), got the job done against Queensland.
The Vics may have been hopeful of building a big first innings lead on their home deck after bowling Queensland out before the end of day one, but those hopes were dashed after Xavier Bartlett joined the Pfeiffer party, taking 5-32 of 13 overs. It was the 1567th time there had been three five wicket hauls in the same Sheffield Shield match.
Bartlett was well supported by Wildermuth (2-25 off 13) and Steketee (3-32 off 14) to have Victoria all out for 123, 49 runs behind the Bulls’ first innings total.
Only three Victorian batters made double figures: former Test players Marcus Harris (41 off 112) and Peter Handscomb (24 of 49), along with Tom Rogers (11 off 31), with all three being sent back to the sheds by Bartlett.
Victoria seemed unphased after conceding first innings points to their northern opposition, putting together another strong bowling performance in Queensland’s second innings to restrict the Bulls to 223 and setting themselves a chase of 273 in the final innings for victory.
The team formerly known as the Bushrangers were again led by O’Neill, who backed up his first innings performance with 4-22 of 15.4 overs. Sam Elliot (3/62) and Xavier Crone (2/55) also chipped in with multiple wickets.
However, no Victorian batter was able to get things going in their second dig, with Handscomb leading from the front (78 off 139) before being caught behind by opposing skipper Mitch Swepson (4/88 from 30 overs).
Some late hitting from Crone (28 from 51) got Victoria close to stealing the victory, but Steketee trapped him leg before to finish the home team’s innings just 23 runs short.
The Bulls’ win is payback for Victoria’s victory in the last round of Shield matches, having won by 90 runs in a day/night game at the Gabba in late November.
The Sheffield Shield now goes into a temporary pause until February, with the Big Bash running from December 15 through to January 27.
The timeframe of this stat is limited based on what data are available. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you spot any errors in what I have presented.