Unusual Hat-tricks in professional cricket
May 10, 2016 at 11:45 AM
A hat-trick is a very rare incident in the world cricket. In cricket, when a bowler picks up three wickets in his three consecutive deliveries in a match, a hat-trick is credited to the bowler. Hence, it is one of the toughest achievement for the cricketers.
Sometimes the hat-trick occurs in an unusual style which leaves cricket fans amazed. In this article, we will talk about those unusual hat-tricks in the professional cricket.
- Hat-trick in two balls
“Hat-trick in two balls” is one of the rare incidents in cricket. In the international cricket, it has not happened yet but in professional cricket, i.e FC or domestic cricket, it happened already in twice.
The “Hat-trick in two balls” means a bowler picks up three wickets in two legal balls. It means the bowler must have taken one wicket on wide delivery and other two wickets came via two legal deliveries. “Stump out” is the most common dismissal on wide delivery, on which bowlers can claim that wicket.
Wayamba left-arm pacer Isuru Udana had achieved the “Hat-trick in two balls” in the Champions League T20 2010 while Rajasthan Royals leg-spinner Pravin Tambe has achieved this feat in the IPL 2014. Udana had achieved this feat against the Central Districts Stags while Tambe had claimed that rare feat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
- Hat-trick completed in three different overs
It is another very rare instance of a hat-trick that a bowler completes this memorable feat in three different overs. It is naturally only possible in the first-class cricket (including Test cricket) where a team gets two innings bat/bowl.
In international cricket, it happened only once till date and that was in Test cricket. Australian fast bowler, Merv Hughes had completed a hat-trick in three different overs against West Indies at Perth in December 1988.
At first, Hughes dismissed Curtly Ambrose in the last ball of his 36th over and then he dismissed Patrick Patterson on his first ball of his next over which had also ended West Indies’ first innings. Then in the first ball of the second innings of West Indies, Hughes got the wicket of Gordon Greenidge thus completing his hat-trick.
It was so unusual hat-trick that Hughes had not realized about that incredible feat at that moment and had to be told about it later. However, there were some hat-tricks in the first-class cricket which are spread over two innings.
- Double Hat-trick
Double Hat-trick is unusual and toughest feats in cricket. A double hat-trick means a bowler grabs 4 wickets on 4 consecutive deliveries in a match. In the international cricket, it has happened only once.
Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga had earned this hat-trick after claiming four wickets on 4 consecutive deliveries of an ODI match. It was the match between South Africa vs Sri Lanka at Guyana in 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup where Malinga dismissed four South African batsmen (Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini) on four consecutive deliveries (wickets in last two balls in an over + first two balls in his next over) in between his two overs.
- Two hat-tricks in an innings
“Two hat-tricks in an innings” is another rare and tough feat in the cricket. In the two hat-tricks in an innings, the bowler has to take three consecutive wickets twice in the same innings. It has never happened in the international cricket but has happened twice in first-class cricket.
Former Australian and England cricketer Albert Trott had claimed two hat-tricks in the same innings when he was playing for Middlesex against Somerset in 1907. In that innings, Trott also had done double hat-trick (4 wickets in 4 consecutive balls) during one of his two hat-tricks.
On the other hand, in the Ranji Trophy (Indian domestic first-class cricket) 1963-64 season, Services pacer Joginder Rao had also claimed two hat-tricks in an innings.