Flashback: Test cricket’s first-ever hat-trick
Every bowler dreams to add a hat-trick to his cabinet of bowling achievements as it is a rare occurrence, especially in Test cricket. However, it took only three matches for the Test format to witness the first-ever hat-trick. It was Australia’s Frederick Spofforth who was the lucky one to script his name on the history books as the first player ever with a hat-trick in Test cricket.
The historic event
Australia hosted England in a one-off Test match at the Melbourne cricket ground in 1878 starting on January 2nd. England, who elected to bat first, found themselves at 14/4 as Australia’s opening pair of bowlers Frederick Spofforth and the debutant Frank Allan picked two wickets apiece.
Spofforth first cleaned up Revd Vernon Royle when the team total was 26 and then sent back Francis MacKinnon in a similar fashion on the first ball he faced. The two batters were among the nine Test debutants for England in this match including their captain Harris. Later, Spofforth completed a hat-trick when he got the better of Tom Emmett who was dismissed for a golden duck by giving a catch to Tom Horan.
Fred Spofforth’s hat-trick came on the opening day (his 11th over): 0 W W W
His bowling figures then read: 11-6-15-5
It was the 21st over of the innings.
England from 26/4 went to 26/7
[note: It was then a four-ball over Test match]— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) January 2, 2021
The impressive fact of Spofforth’s feat was that the hat-trick was completed in an over which consisted of 4 balls only. England were seven wickets down for just 26 runs on the board after the hat-trick but managed to finish with 113 on the board thanks to a 52-run knock by the No.9 batsman Charlie Absolom. He added 63 runs for the 8th wicket along with the skipper Harris who himself made 33.
Tom Emmett, the hat-trick dismissal of Spofforth, claimed a 7-wicket haul to bowl Australia out to 256. With a deficit of 143 runs to clear, England were not able to put on an inspiring batting performance. They lasted 83 overs for the total of 160/10 as Frederick Spofforth took a 7-wicket haul in the 2nd essay adding up to his six wickets in the first innings. Australia got a target of 18 runs which they chased down in just 2.3 overs to complete a 10-wicket win.
