Stats: 4 Batsmen Dismissed for a Golden Duck in the 3rd Test between England-South Africa 1
Moeen Ali's hat-trick had two batsmen dismissed for a golden duck. Image Courtesy: Getty Images

England who was pitted as the underdogs coming into the 3rd Test at the Oval against the Proteas made a dramatic turnaround and produced a brilliant performance which saw them winning the 3rd Test by a convincing margin of 239 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

But what was more important, the South African batsmen were unable to compete against the home side which was just opposite what had happened in the previous test.

Chasing an unlikely victory target of 492 runs to win, the visitors were never in the game and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Barring Dean Elgar, not a single batsman could get going. Elgar waged a lone battle and brought up the 8th Test century of his career.

All-rounder Moeen Ali who was forced to bat at No. 8 due to the inclusion of Dawid Malan and Tom Westley did his reputation no harm with the ball, as the offie bagged his maiden Test hat-trick.

It was a brilliant spell of spin bowling by Ali which saw him finish with brilliant figures of 4/45 in 16 overs. It was also for the first time in the history of Test cricket that four batsmen were dismissed for a golden duck. Exceptional to say the least. Ever since its inception in 1877, Cricket has never seen four batsmen getting dismissed on a first ball nought.

The first to be out on a golden duck was South African captain Faf du Plessis who was trapped plumb in front by Ben Stokes with a well-directed inswinger which curved back late to hit him in the leg guards. Vernon Philander was the next man to be dismissed for a first ball duck, as he failed to put a bat on a delivery from Toby Roland-Jones which struck him adjacent to the stumps.

Off spinner, Moeen Ali bagged his hat-trick by dismissing Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel in his last two deliveries to finish off the proceedings.

The visiting Proteas side will definitely look to bounce back in the final Test starting on 4th August at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Arya Chakraborty

A Cricket Freak and a Music Lover. Hearing the name of Sachin Tendulkar still gives him goosebumps and listening to Arjit Singh songs keeps him in the right space. Loves Revolving his life around cricket...