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Hat-trick Hero

Last updated on: February 23, 2004 22:51 IST

Andy Blignaut became the 30th bowler in Test cricket and first from Zimbabwe to complete a Test hat-trick when he had Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahman dismissed off third, fourth and fifth ball of his third over in Bangladesh's second innings in the Harare Test.

Sarkar was the first to go; trapped leg before wicket, while Ashraful was taken at gully by substitute fielder Travis Friend. Mushfiqur Rahman could only manage a thin-edge to wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu and the history was made.

There have been a total of 33 hat-tricks in the Test cricket (including Blignaut's). Australia's Fred Spofforth was the first bowler to take three wickets off three consecutive balls in a Test match. Australia's Hugh Trumble and Jimmy Matthews; and Pakistan's Wasim Akram have performed this feat twice. Matthews, in fact, did the hat-trick in each innings. England's Maurice Allom, New Zealand's Peter Petherick and Australia's Damien Fleming did the hat-trick on their debut, whereas the second Trumble and the Griffin hat-tricks were in their final Tests.

The hat-tricks of West Indian Courtney Walsh and Jermaine Lawson; and Australia's Merve Hughes were spanned over two innings. Sri Lankan fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa's hat-trick was from the first three balls he delivered in the Test – a feat unparalleled in first-class cricket. Pakistan's Wasim Akram was the first captain to take a hat trick, a feat he emulated in the next Test match.

Bowler For Vs Inns Test Venue Series Mode of dismissals
FR Spofforth Aus Eng 1st 1st Melbourne 1878-79 2 bowled,1 ct
W Bates Eng Aus 1st 2nd Melbourne 1882-83 1 bowled,1 c&b,1 ct
J Briggs Eng Aus 2nd 2nd Sydney 1891-92 1 bowled,1 ct,1 LBW
GA Lohmann Eng SA 2nd 1st Port Elizabeth 1895-96 2 bowled,1 ct
JT Hearne Eng Aus 2nd 3rd Leeds 1899 1 bowled,2 ct
H Trumble Aus Eng 2nd 2nd Melbourne 1901-02 1 c&b,2 ct
H Trumble Aus Eng 2nd 5th Melbourne 1903-04 1 c&b,1 ct,1 LBW
TJ Matthews Aus SA 1st 1st Manchester 1912 1 bowled,2 LBW
TJ Matthews Aus SA 2nd 1st Manchester 1912 1 bowled,2 c&b
MJC Allom Eng NZ 1st 1st Christchurch 1929-30 1 bowled,1 ct,1 LBW
TWJ Goddard Eng SA 1st 1st Johannesburg 1938-39 1 bowled,1 c&b,1 st
PJ Loader Eng WI 1st 4th Leeds 1957 2 bowled,1 ct
LF Kline Aus SA 2nd 2nd Cape Town 1957-58 2 ct,1 LBW
WW Hall WI Pak 1st 3rd Lahore 1958-59 1 bowled,1 ct,1 LBW
GM Griffin SA Eng 1st 2nd Lord's 1960 2 bowled,1 ct
LR Gibbs WI Aus 1st 4th Adelaide 1960-61 1 bowled,1 ct,1 LBW
PJ Petherick NZ Pak 1st 1st Lahore 1976-77 1 c&b, 2 ct
CA Walsh WI Aus 1&2 1st Brisbane 1988-89 2 ct,1 LBW
MG Hughes Aus WI 1&2 2nd Perth 1988-89 2 ct,1 LBW
DW Fleming Aus Pak 2nd 2nd Rawalpindi 1994-95 2 ct,1 LBW
SK Warne Aus Eng 2nd 2nd Melbourne 1994-95 2 ct,1 LBW
DG Cork Eng WI 2nd 4th Manchester 1995 1 bowled,2 LBW
D Gough Eng Aus 1st 5th Sydney 1998-99 1 ct, 2 bowled
Wasim Akram Pak SL 1st 1st Lahore 1998-99 1 ct, 2 bowled
Wasim Akram Pak SL 2nd 1st Dhaka 1998-99 2 ct,1 bowled
DNT Zoysa SL Zim 1st 2nd Harare 1999-00 2 LBW, 1 ct
Abdur Razzaq Pak SL 1st 2nd Galle 1999-00 1 ct, 2 LBW
GD McGrath Aus WI 1st 2nd Perth 2000-01 3 ct
Harbhajan Singh Ind Aus 1st 2nd Calcutta 2000-01 2 LBW, 1 ct
Mohammad Sami Pak SL 1st 1st Lahore 2001-02 2 LBW, 1 bowled
JJC Lawson WI Aus 1&2 3rd Bridgetown 2002-03 2 bowled, 1 LBW
Alok Kapali Ban Pak 1st 2nd Peshawar 2003 1 ct, 2 LBW
AM Blignaut Zim Ban 2nd 1st Harare 2003-04 1 LBW, 2 ct

Rajneesh Gupta