Stats: Bowlers who have picked a hat-trick in Test cricket

A hat-trick is when a bowler dismisses three batsmen on consecutive deliveries. While in most cases it’s observed in a single over, there are instances where bowlers picked two wickets on the last two balls of an over and came back to get the hat-trick wicket on the first ball of their next over. Another and a rarer occurrence is two wickets on the last two balls of the inning and a wicket on the very first ball of the next inning. The third case is only possible in Tests and here we are talking about all the recorded hat-tricks in Test cricket till date.

The first bowler to claim a Test hat-trick was Australian fast bowler Frederick Robert. In the Test match against England at Melbourne in 1878-79, he got rid of VPFA Royle, FA Mackinnon and T.Emmett to achieve the feat.

Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka today became the second bowler from the country to claim a Test hat-trick in the 2nd Test against Australia. Nuwan Zoysa the former Lankan left-arm pacer had recorded the first dismissing Zimbabwe batsmen TR Gripper, MW Goodwin and NC Johnson at Harare in 1999-2000.

Herath has been almost unplayable for the visiting Australian team in this series thus far. He has bowled consistent and probing lines, the batsmen have not been sure whether to play or leave. The veteran spinner has used his experience and variations to bamboozle the Aussies who came into the series as the number 1 ranked Test team.

Also Watch: Rangana Herath claims first ever Test Hat-trick

On Day 2 of the second Test in Australia’s first inning, Herath scalped Adam Voges, Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc on consecutive deliveries to rattle the visitors. He finished with a 4-wicket haul as Australia were bowled out for 106 runs, their lowest total against Sri Lanka.

Here is the complete list of bowlers who have picked a hat-trick in Test cricket: