In cricket, a hat-trick occurs when a bowler takes a wicket with each of three consecutive deliveries. Although hat-tricks can carry over between innings, meaning a batter can be dismissed twice as part of the same hat-trick, they do not carry over between matches. As of December 2024, this feat has only been achieved 47 times, by 43 different bowlers, in more than two thousand men's Test matches, [1] the form of the sport in which national representative teams compete in matches of up to five days' duration.
The first Test hat-trick was recorded on 2 January 1879, in only the third Test match to take place, by the Australia pace bowler Fred Spofforth, nicknamed "The Demon Bowler", [2] who dismissed three England batters with consecutive deliveries at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The most recent Test hat-trick was taken by Gus Atkinson in December 2024.
This article relates to men's cricket only. There have been three hat-tricks in women's Test cricket.
A player has taken two hat-tricks in the same Test match only once. Playing for Australia against South Africa in the first match of the 1912 Triangular Tournament at Old Trafford, Manchester, England, leg spinner Jimmy Matthews took a hat-trick in South Africa's first and second innings, both taken on 28 May 1912. He completed both hat-tricks by dismissing South Africa's Tommy Ward. [3] Only three other cricketers have taken more than one Test hat-trick: Australian off spinner Hugh Trumble (two years apart, between the same teams at the same ground), Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram (just over a week apart, in consecutive matches between the same teams) and England fast bowler Stuart Broad.
Australian Merv Hughes is the only bowler to take a hat-trick where the wickets fell over three overs. This was at WACA, Perth in 1988. He took a wicket (Curtly Ambrose) with the final ball of an over. With the first ball of his next over he took the final wicket of the West Indies innings (Patrick Patterson). He then removed the opener Gordon Greenidge with the first ball of the West Indies second innings. [4] Even more unusually, Hughes's two first-innings wickets were not consecutive, since Tim May had bowled an over himself in between Hughes's two deliveries, and took the wicket of Gus Logie. [5]
Two other hat-tricks have taken place over two innings rather than one, both taken by West Indians against Australia – Courtney Walsh and Jermaine Lawson. Walsh's, at the Gabba in 1988, was unusual since, like Hughes' (which was in the very next Test in the series), other wickets fell between the beginning and end of the hat-trick. After dismissing Dodemaide to finish off Australia's first innings, Walsh did not open the bowling in the Australian second innings, and in fact did not bowl until Australia had already lost two wickets and were 65 for 2: then with his first two deliveries he dismissed Wood and Veletta. Lawson's hat trick was at the Kensington Oval in 2003. He removed tail-enders Lee and MacGill in successive deliveries before Australia declared their first innings (at 605/9), and then took the wicket of Langer with the first delivery of Australia's second innings. [6]
In the five-match series between a Rest of the World XI and England in 1970, a hat-trick was taken by South African Eddie Barlow in the fourth match, at Headingley (the last three of four wickets in five balls). [12] These matches were considered to be Tests at the time, but that status was later removed. [13]
Symbol | Meaning |
---|---|
Hat-trick taken in debut match | |
Bowler | The name of the bowler |
For | The team for which the bowler was playing |
Against | The team against which the bowler was playing |
Inn. | The innings (first or second) in which the hat-trick was achieved |
Test | The number of the Test within the overall series between the two teams |
Dismissals | The three players dismissed by the bowler |
Venue | The venue where the hat-trick was achieved |
Date | The date on which the hat-trick was achieved |
Ref. | Reference |
England and Australia combined have taken over half of all Test match hat-tricks to date, 26 of 47 (55.32%). [7]
Team | Hat-tricks | No. of bowlers |
---|---|---|
England | 15 | 14 |
Australia | 11 | 9 |
Pakistan | 5 | 4 |
West Indies | 4 | 4 |
India | 3 | 3 |
Bangladesh | 2 | 2 |
New Zealand | 2 | 2 |
South Africa | 2 | 2 |
Sri Lanka | 2 | 2 |
Zimbabwe | 1 | 1 |
Total | 47 | 43 |
Bowler | Hat-tricks |
---|---|
Hugh Trumble | 2 |
Jimmy Matthews | |
Wasim Akram | |
Stuart Broad |
Ground | Hat-tricks |
---|---|
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne | 5 |
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 3 |
Headingley, Leeds | |
Old Trafford, Manchester | |
Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi | 2 |
Bangabandhu Stadium, Dhaka | |
The Gabba, Brisbane | |
Galle International Stadium, Galle | |
Kensington Oval, Bridgetown | |
Harare Sports Club, Harare | |
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney | |
WACA Ground, Perth |
Herath Mudiyanselage Rangana Keerthi Bandara Herath, known as Rangana Herath, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who played all forms of cricket game and a former Test cricket captain for Sri Lanka. Considered as one of the best spinners to ever play the game, Herath is the most successful left arm bowler in Test cricket history. Herath was a member of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.
Stuart Christopher John Broad is an English former cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team and was One Day and Twenty20 International captain. Broad was a member of the England team that won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. His longevity, and highly successful partnership with fellow fast bowler James Anderson cemented him as one of England's greatest ever Test bowlers.
Ryan James Harris is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He was a right-arm fast bowler who was a member of the Australia national cricket team until retiring in the Ashes tour lead up of 2015 due to a knee injury. It had hampered him for a majority of his career, but despite this, he performed as one of Australia's most highly rated fast bowlers. His first ball bowling of Alastair Cook in the 2013 Ashes series has been rated as one of the greatest balls of all time.
In cricket, a hat-trick occurs when a bowler takes three wickets from three 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 in the same match. Only wickets attributed to the bowler count towards a hat-trick; run outs do not count, although they can contribute towards a so-called team hat-trick, which is ostensibly a normal hat-trick except that the three successive deliveries can be wickets from any bowler in the team and with any mode of dismissal.