Hat-trick - Cricket

Cricket

See also: Test cricket hat-tricks, One Day International cricket hat-tricks, and List of first-class cricket records#Hat-tricks

A hat-trick occurs in cricket when a bowler dismisses three batsmen with consecutive deliveries. The deliveries may be interrupted by an over bowled by another bowler from the other end of the pitch or the other team's innings, but must be three consecutive deliveries by the individual bowler. Only wickets attributed to the bowler count towards a hat-trick; run outs do not count.

Hat-tricks are very rare and as such are treasured by bowlers. In Test cricket history there have been just 39 hat-tricks, the first achieved by Fred Spofforth for Australia against England in 1879. In 1912, Australian Jimmy Matthews achieved the feat twice in one game against South Africa. The only other players to achieve two hat-tricks are Australia's Hugh Trumble, against England in 1902 and 1904, and Pakistan's Wasim Akram, in separate games against Sri Lanka in 1999.

In One Day International cricket there have been 32 hat-tricks up to 18 August 2012, the first by Jalal-ud-Din for Pakistan against Australia in 1982, and the most recent by Thisara Perera for Sri Lanka cricket team against Pakistan on 16 June 2012 in Colombo.

Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka cricket team against Australia on 22 August 2011 in the last match of the five-ODI series played in Colombo achieved a hat-trick. With this last hat-trick Lasith Malinga became the first and only bowler to take three hat-tricks in any form of international cricket. Three players have taken at least two One Day International hat-tricks in their careers: Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq of Pakistan and Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka. (Akram therefore has four international hat-tricks in total).

In Twenty20 International Cricket, Brett Lee of Australia had a hat-trick against Bangladesh in the Super Eight of the Twenty20 World Cup on 16 September 2007 in South Africa. Jacob Oram of New Zealand made a hat-trick against Sri Lanka on 2 September 2009 in Colombo, And Tim Southee, also from New Zealand, made a hat-trick against Pakistan, and ended up with a 5-For at the end of the match.

Taking two wickets in two consecutive deliveries is occasionally known as a brace, or (more commonly) being on a hat-trick. Four wickets in four balls is referred to in cricket literature and record books as four in four but the term double hat-trick has also been used in the media, as it will contain two different, overlapping sets of three consecutively dismissed batsmen. It has occurred only once in international one-day cricket, in the 2007 World Cup, when Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga managed the feat against South Africa by dismissing Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini, though it has occurred on other occasions in first-class cricket. Kevan James of Hampshire took four wickets in four balls and scored a century in the same county game against India in 1996. The Cricinfo report on the game claimed that this was unique in cricket.

Nuwan Zoysa of Sri Lanka is the only bowlers to achieve a hat-trick off his first three balls in test cricket dismissing Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson and Trevor Gripper of Zimbabwe, in 1999, while Irfan Pathan of India also holds the distinction of achieving a hat-trick in the very first over of the test match but of the 4,5,6 deliveries when he dismissed Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan in 2006, Karachi. Chaminda Vaas being the only one to achieve a hat-trick of the very first deliveries in one day internationals, against Bangladesh in 2003. He got Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful and Ehsanul Haque out in 10th match of ICC World Cup 2003, played at City Oval, Pietermaritzburg

Albert Trott and Joginder Rao are the only two bowlers credited with two hat-tricks in the same innings in first class cricket. One of Trott's two hat-tricks, for Middlesex against Somerset at Lords in 1907, was a four in four.

While nearly all hat-tricks are rare and prized, some examples are particularly extraordinary. On 2 December 1988, Merv Hughes, playing for Australia, dismissing Curtly Ambrose with the last ball of his penultimate over and Patrick Patterson with the first ball of his next over, wrapping up the West Indies first innings. When Hughes returned to bowl in the West Indies second innings, he trapped Gordon Greenidge lbw with his first ball, completing a hat-trick over two different innings and becoming the only player in Test cricket history to achieve the three wickets of a hat-trick in three different overs.

In 1844, underarm bowler William Clark, playing for "England" against Kent, achieved a hat-trick spread over two innings, dismissing Kent batsman John Fagge twice within the hat-trick. Fagge batted at number 11 in the first innings and at number 3 in the second. This event is believed to be unique in first-class cricket.

The most involved hat-trick was perhaps when Melbourne club cricketer Stephen Hickman, playing for Power House, achieved a hat-trick spread over three overs, two days, two innings, involving the same batsman twice, and observed by the same non-striker, with the hat-trick ball being bowled from the opposite end to the first two. In the Mercantile Cricket Association C Grade semi-final at Fawkner Park South Yarra in Melbourne, Gunbower United Cricket Club were 8 for 109 when Hickman came on to bowl his off spin. He took a wicket with the last ball of his third over and then bowled number 11 batsman Richard Higgins with the first ball of his next over to complete the Gunbower innings, leaving Chris Taylor the not out batsman. Power House scored 361 putting the game out of reach of Gunbower. In the second innings opener Taylor was joined by Higgins at the fall of the fourth wicket as Hickman returned to the attack. With his first ball, observed by an incredulous Taylor at the non-striker's end, he clean bowled Higgins leaving Higgins with a pair of golden ducks.

One of the most unlikely of hat-tricks occurred in 2009. Representing City Eagles in Christchurch, New Zealand, David Crocker (a former wicket-keeper/batsman turned surprise bowler) took 3 wickets to secure a hat-trick with the first 3 deliveries he bowled in Suburban Cricket. It is unknown if this has occurred before with the very first deliveries a bowler would bowl in a competition claiming wickets. David also scored 118 against the same team.

At least two triple hat-tricks have been achieved. The first was by Scott Babot of Wainuiomata Cricket Club playing in the Senior 3 competition in New Zealand in 2008. It consisted of five wickets in five balls, across two innings and separated by seven days, as the match took place on consecutive Saturdays. The second was in an Ireland club U13 youth game in 2011, achieved by David Delany of Clontarf Cricket Club playing in an All-Ireland final against Bready Cricket Club. Bready needed 19 runs to win with 6 wickets in hand, when Delany took five wickets in five balls, with all five batsmen being dismissed bowled. Clontarf won the game.