Newcastle City’s 65-year-old Brad O’Dell completes cricket’s rarest feat amid seventh hat-trick

If taking a seventh career hat-trick wasn’t a good enough day out for Newcastle City’s Brad O’Dell, the 65-year-old completed one of the rarest feats in the game. Here’s his incredible story.

Brad O’Dell has completed cricket.

It was a quip from teammate Troy Arnold, but after his once in a lifetime feat at the weekend, it rings true.

Playing division four cricket for Newcastle City on Saturday, O’Dell took not only the seventh hat-trick of his career, but took all 10 of Wallsend’s wickets in the process.

If that wasn’t extraordinary enough, he skittled the entire batting line-up at the age of 65.

O’Dell captains the team, and with the Sabres needing a big win to get into the finals, made the decision to put himself into the attack after a wicketless nine overs.

65-year-old Newcastle City cricketer Brad O'Dell (right), who took all 10 wickets, including a hat-trick, in a fourth grade match against Wallsend during the 2024-25 season. Pictured with son Hamish O'Dell. Picture: Alex Pichaloff

As they say the rest is history

“Our two opening quicks were bowling without luck. We needed to win and win well, so I brought myself on,” he said.

“I got a couple of wickets early on so kept bowling. The guys bowling at the other end weren’t bowling bad, just without luck. So I stayed on and picked up a few more.

“Suddenly they’re six down and then seven. I kept bowling and then took a hat-trick.”

O’Dell rounded out the innings in the best possible way, removing the last three batsmen in a row, a feat he is no stranger to.

“One of the players in our team is 16,” he said.

“He asked me if it’s my first hat-trick. I told him its my seventh. He quickly replied ‘so one for every decade’.”

O’Dell has been playing the game for a ‘very, very long time’, and the gravity of the feat has started to hit home.

“It was really good captaincy on my end to set the field for the other bowlers not to get wickets,” he joked.

65-year-old Newcastle City cricketer Brad O'Dell, who took all 10 wickets, including a hat-trick, in a fourth grade match against Wallsend during the 2024-25 season. Picture: Alex Pichaloff

“It’s very rare. I’ve had quite a few people telling me how rare it is.

“You have to be lucky and lucky in the sense that the bowlers at the other end are being unlucky.

Brad and his son Hamish were part of the tens of thousands at the Sydney Showground to witness Green Day rock out when his young fella put things into perspective.

“We were overlooking the crowd in the stand when he said ‘I bet you nobody else here has taken 10 wickets.”

Regardless if Newcastle City advances to the finals when day two comes around this weekend, O’Dell’s season isn’t over with representative duties for the NSW Veterans against Queensland later this month.