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 January 2025, this feat has only been achieved 48 times, by 44 different bowlers, in more than 2,000 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 Noman Ali in January 2025.
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]
| 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 |
| Bowler | For | Against | Inn. | Test | Dismissals | Venue | Date | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2 January 1879 | [14] | ||||||
| 2 | 1 |
| 20 January 1883 | [15] | |||||
| 3 | 2 | 2 February 1892 | [16] | ||||||
| 4 | 2 | 14 February 1896 | [17] | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | 30 June 1899 | [18] | ||||||
| 6 | 2 |
| 4 January 1902 | [19] | |||||
| 7 | 2 |
| 8 March 1904 | [20] | |||||
| 8 | 1 |
| 28 May 1912 | [21] | |||||
| 9 | 2 |
| 28 May 1912 | ||||||
| 10 | 1 |
| 10 January 1930 | [22] | |||||
| 11 | 1 |
| 26 December 1938 | [23] | |||||
| 12 | 1 | 25 July 1957 | [24] | ||||||
| 13 | 2 | 3 January 1958 | [25] | ||||||
| 14 | 1 |
| 29 March 1959 | [26] | |||||
| 15 | 1 | Lord's, London | 24 June 1960 | [27] | |||||
| 16 | 1 | 30 January 1961 | [28] | ||||||
| 17 | 1 |
| 9 October 1976 | [29] | |||||
| 18 | 1 & 2 | 18–20 November 1988 | [30] | ||||||
| 19 | 1 & 2 | 3–4 December 1988 | [31] | ||||||
| 20 | 2 | 9 October 1994 | [32] | ||||||
| 21 | 2 |
| 29 December 1994 | [33] | |||||
| 22 | 2 | 30 July 1995 | [34] | ||||||
| 23 | 1 | 2 January 1999 | [35] | ||||||
| 24 | Wasim Akram | 1 | 6 March 1999 | [36] | |||||
| 25 | Wasim Akram | 2 | 14 March 1999 | [37] | |||||
| 26 | Nuwan Zoysa | 1 | 26 November 1999 | [38] | |||||
| 27 | Abdul Razzaq | 1 |
| 21 June 2000 | [39] | ||||
| 28 | 1 | 1 December 2000 | [40] | ||||||
| 29 | Harbhajan Singh | 1 | 11 March 2001 | [41] | |||||
| 30 | Mohammad Sami | 1 | 8 March 2002 | [42] | |||||
| 31 | 1 & 2 |
| 2–5 May 2003 | [43] | |||||
| 32 | Alok Kapali | 1 | 29 August 2003 | [44] | |||||
| 33 | 2 | 22 February 2004 | [45] | ||||||
| 34 | 2 | 3 April 2004 | [46] | ||||||
| 35 | 1 | 20 October 2004 | [47] | ||||||
| 36 | Irfan Pathan | 1 |
| 29 January 2006 | [48] | ||||
| 37 | 2 | 8 March 2008 | [49] | ||||||
| 38 | 1 | 25 November 2010 | [50] | ||||||
| 39 | 1 |
| 30 July 2011 | [51] | |||||
| 40 | 2 | 13 October 2013 | [52] | ||||||
| 41 | 1 | 20 June 2014 | [53] | ||||||
| 42 | 1 | 5 August 2016 | [54] | ||||||
| 43 | 2 | 31 July 2017 | [55] | ||||||
| 44 | 1 | 31 August 2019 | [56] | ||||||
| 45 | 2 |
| 9 February 2020 | [57] | |||||
| 46 | 2 | 21 June 2021 | [58] | ||||||
| 47 | 1 | 2/3 | Basin Reserve, Wellington | 7 December 2024 | [59] | ||||
| 48 | 1 | 2/2 | Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan | 25 January 2025 | [60] | ||||
England and Australia combined have taken over half of all Test match hat-tricks to date, 26 of 48.[7]
| Hat-tricks | No. of bowlers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 14 | ||
| 11 | 9 | ||
| 6 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 1 | ||
| Total | 48 | 44 |
| Hat-tricks | Sub-type | Hat-tricks | Bowlers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Right-arm fast | 24 | Fred Spofforth, George Lohmann, Jack Hearne, Maurice Allom, Peter Loader, Wes Hall, Geoff Griffin, Courtney Walsh, Merv Hughes, Damien Fleming, Dominic Cork, Darren Gough, Abdul Razzaq, Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Sami, Jermaine Lawson, Andy Blignaut, Matthew Hoggard, Peter Siddle, Stuart Broad (2), Jasprit Bumrah, Naseem Shah, Gus Atkinson | ||
| Left-arm fast | 6 | Wasim Akram (2), Nuwan Zoysa, James Franklin, Irfan Pathan, Ryan Sidebottom | |||
| 18 | 9 | Billy Bates, Hugh Trumble (2), Tom Goddard, Lance Gibbs, Peter Petherick, Harbhajan Singh, Sohag Gazi, Moeen Ali | |||
| 4 | Jimmy Matthews (2), Shane Warne, Alok Kapali | ||||
| 4 | Noman Ali, Johnny Briggs, Rangana Herath, Keshav Maharaj | ||||
| 1 | Lindsay Kline | ||||
| Total | 48 | 48 |
| scope=row |  Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne | 5 |
|---|---|---|
| scope=row |  Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 3 |
| scope=row | Headingley, Leeds | |
| scope=row | Old Trafford, Manchester | |
| scope=row | 2 | |
| scope=row | ||
| scope=row | The Gabba, Brisbane | |
| scope=row | Galle International Stadium, Galle | |
| scope=row |  Kensington Oval, Bridgetown | |
| scope=row | Harare Sports Club, Harare | |
| scope=row | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney | |
| scope=row | WACA Ground, Perth |