Rae (22) was meant to be watching from the sidelines and occasionally fielding as part of 12th-man duties as the Volts played the Wellington Firebirds at University Oval.
But team-mate Shawn Hicks was ruled out after receiving a blow to his helmet when fielding in close in the Plunket Shield match.
Cricket has strict rules limiting the role of injury substitutes but has been relaxing them for concussions or suspected concussions.
Rae, during the match's third day yesterday, torpedoed Wellington's second attempt at bat with career-best figures of five wickets for 18 runs from just eight overs. He came on when Wellington was cruising at 271 for three. It was all out for 309.
Rae summed up the course of events rather simply.
``Cricket is a funny old game and anything can happen.''
He credited the pressure his fellow bowlers applied to the Wellington batsmen for setting up his spell.
``I certainly wasn't expecting to be involved as much as I was, but things ran their course and today was my day.''
Otago, chasing 215, requires
153 more runs today and has eight wickets in hand.
