Hat-tricks in Test Cricket: Frederick Spofforth scored the first hat-trick in Test history on January 2, 1879. The Australian, known as “The Demon Bowler,” got rid of The Reverend Vernon Royle, Francis MacKinnon, and Thomas Emmett in quick succession on the first day of the match in Melbourne. Spofforth had amazing numbers at the end of the innings: 6-48. As if those weren’t enough, he then claimed 7-62 the second time.
Because of what he did, the Test of Timelessness was over in three days. The England team had to go a long way to play a one-off game that they lost by 10 runs. In honor of the anniversary of Spofforth’s amazing hat-trick, here are five of the best Test hat-tricks ever. There were a lot to choose from, so feel free to use the comments part to make your case for one we didn’t choose in Hat-tricks List.
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Best Hat-tricks in Test Cricket
Jimmy Matthews:
Any bowler at any level knows how hard it is to achieve a hat-trick. Jimmy Matthews, however, managed to do it twice in the same match in 1912. The Australian leg-spinner wrapped up South Africa’s first innings at Old Trafford (the two nations were playing in a triangular tournament that also involved England) to allow his captain to enforce the follow-on. South Africa was then bowled out for 95 in 28.2 overs; Matthews helped rush Australia to victory when he astonishingly claimed a second hat-trick, not only in the same Test but also on the same day!
Spare a thought for poor Tommy Ward—on both occasions he was the third victim for Matthews; meaning on his debut for his country, the wicketkeeper-batsman recorded a king pair (out first ball in each innings). Sadly, there are no pictures available of Matthews in action, so instead enjoy watching another Australian celebrating after taking three wickets in as many balls. Shane Warne missed out on the final cut despite his heroics against England in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne in 1994. Still, it is worth watching the video simply for David Boon’s superb reaction catch at short leg to complete the dismissal of Devon Malcolm.
Dominic Cork:
In the summer of 1995, Dominic Cork had already had a great start to his Test career. Against West Indies, he set a record by taking three wickets in as many deliveries. Cork had a great run on the fourth morning of the match, which was only his third game for England. This helped the home team win by six wickets. Richie Richardson, the captain of the West Indies, was his first victim. He played on to his stumps, and the next ball caught Junior Murray leg before wicket.
Carl Hooper, who was batting lower in the lineup because he had a chipped finger, was also out on his first delivery. He was given out lbw as he jumped forward onto his front foot. Cork became the first English player to get a hat-trick in a Test since Peter Loader did it against West Indies in 1957.
Wasim Akram:
Wasim Akram got two hat-tricks in Tests in 1999, both against Sri Lanka in the month of March. First, he got Romesh Kaluwitharana out for 100 in Lahore. Then, he got rid of the last two batsmen, Niroshan Bandaratilleke and Pramodya Wickramasinghe, giving Pakistan the lead in the first innings of a match that would end up being a tie. Four days later, in the final of the Asian Test Championship in Dhaka, the two teams played each other again. On the first day, Pakistan bowled out their opponents for 231 and then scored 594 runs to take a big first-innings lead.
Day 3 ended with Sri Lanka at 9-3 and three overs left to play. Akram’s first wicket was the opener Avishka Gunawardene, who was caught behind the wicket on the fifth ball. Chaminda Vaas didn’t last long as the night watchman. He was thrown out on the next delivery without causing any problems for the scores. But the Pakistani fast bowler had to wait until the beginning of his next over to get his hat trick. Wajahatullah Wasti caught Mahela Jayawardene. The next day, Sri Lanka was bowled out for 188, which made them lose by an inning.
Glenn McGrath:
In 2000, when Glenn McGrath won all three Tests against West Indies, he reached a personal milestone. Australia won by a huge margin in the match in Perth, so the most interesting part of the one-sided game was when McGrath got the visitors down to 19-4 on the first day. Why then is it on the list? When he caught Brian Lara for a duck on the first ball, his second wicket of the hat-trick, the seamer also hit the milestone of 300 victims in Tests. Sherwin Campbell had been caught by Ricky Ponting, making Sherwin Campbell the second West Indies player to be out to the new ball.
Jimmy Adams was left to face the hat-trick ball. He didn’t make it, throwing an easy catch-up to Justin Langer under the helmet at short leg. McGrath didn’t get any more wickets in the first round, and when West Indies played again, he only got one. He did, however, end his great Test career, in which he played in 124 games for his country, with 563 catches.
Harbhajan Singh:
Harbhajan SinghHarbhajan Singh took a hat-trick against Australia in Kolkata in a thrilling Test match. After batting first at Eden Gardens, Australia reached 252-4 when Harbhajan gave the hosts hope by becoming the first Indian bowler to take three wickets in as many deliveries in a Test. Ricky Ponting’s initial firing was justified. However, Adam Gilchrist may have felt aggrieved to be declared lbw to the spinner’s following delivery. It hit the batsman’s pad and pitched outside leg stump.
Shane Warne then scored another hat-trick, but he wasn’t celebrating. Warne claimed the ball hit the floor before being caught by the defender, but the third umpire disagreed. After knocking India out for 171, captain Steve Waugh invited the home team to bat again after Australia made 445. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid batted India to safety and a win. Australia lost 212 chasing 394 on a worn pitch. Harbhajan took 13 wickets in the Test but was not named man-of-the-match. This is the end of Hat-tricks list in test cricket.
Following is the list of bowlers who have got Hat-tricks in Test cricket:
| S# | BOWLER | MATCH | WICKETS | VENUE | DATE |
| 1 | Frederick Spofforth | Australia v England | The Revd Vernon Royle (b) Francis MacKinnon (b) Tom Emmett (c) | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 02-Jan-1879 |
| 2 | Billy Bates | England v Australia | Percy McDonnell (b) George Giffen (c&b) George Bonnor (c) | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 20-Jan-1883 |
| 3 | Johnny Briggs | England v Australia | Walter Giffen (b) Jack Blackham (lbw) Sydney Callaway (c) | Sydney Cricket Ground | 02-Feb-1892 |
| 4 | George Lohmann | England v South Africa | Frederick Cook (b) Bonnor Middleton (b) Joseph Willoughby (c) | St George’s Park | 14-Feb-1896 |
| 5 | Jack Hearne | England v Australia | Clem Hill (b) Syd Gregory (c) Monty Noble (c) | Headingley | 30-Jun-1899 |
| 6 | Hugh Trumble | Australia v England | John Gunn (c) Arthur Jones (c) Sydney Barnes (c&b) | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 04-Jan-1902 |
| 7 | Hugh Trumble | Australia v England | Bernard Bosanquet (c) Sir Pelham Warner (lbw) Dick Lilley (lbw) | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 08-Mar-1904 |
| 8 | Jimmy Matthews | Australia v South Africa | Rolland Beaumont (b) Sid Pegler (lbw) Tommy Ward (lbw) | Old Trafford | 28-May-1912 |
| 9 | Jimmy Matthews | Australia v South Africa | Herbie Taylor (b) Reggie Schwarz (c) Tommy Ward (c) | Old Trafford | 28-May-1912 |
| 10 | Maurice Allom | England v New Zealand | Tom Lowry (lbw) Ken James (c) Ted Badcock (b) | AMI Stadium | 10-Jan-1930 |
| 11 | Tom Goddard | England v South Africa | Dudley Nourse (c&b) Norman Gordon (st) Billy Wade (b) | Old Wanderers | 26-Dec-1938 |
| 12 | Peter Loader | England v West Indies | John Goddard (b) Sonny Ramadhin (c) Roy Gilchrist (b) | Headingley | 25-Jul-1957 |
| 13 | Lindsay Kline | Australia v South Africa | Eddie Fuller (c) Hugh Tayfield (lbw) Neil Adcock (c) | Newlands | 03-Jan-1958 |
| 14 | Wes Hall | West Indies v Pakistan | Mushtaq Mohammad (lbw) Fazal Mahmood (c) Nasim-ul-Ghani (b) | Bagh-e-Jinnah | 29-Mar-1959 |
| 15 | Geoff Griffin | South Africa v England | Mike K Smith (c) Peter Walker (b) Fred Trueman (b) | Lord’s | 24-Jun-1960 |
| 16 | Lance Gibbs | West Indies v Australia | Ken Mackay (lbw) Wally Grout (c) Frank Misson (b) | Adelaide Oval | 30-Jan-1961 |
| 17 | Peter Petherick | New Zealand v Pakistan | Javed Miandad (c) Wasim Raja (c&b) Intikhab Alam (c) | Gaddafi Stadium | 09-Oct-1976 |
| 18 | Courtney Walsh | West Indies v Australia | Tony Dodemaide (c) Mike Veletta (c) Graeme Wood (lbw) | Brisbane Cricket Ground | 20-Nov-1988 |
| 19 | Merv Hughes | Australia v West Indies | Curtly Ambrose (c) Patrick Patterson (c) Gordon Greenidge (lbw) | W.A.C.A. Ground | 04-Dec-1988 |
| 20 | Damien Fleming | Australia v Pakistan | Aamer Malik (c) Inzamam-ul-Haq (lbw) Saleem Malik (c) | Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium | 09-Oct-1994 |
| 21 | Shane Warne | Australia v England | Phil DeFreitas (lbw) Darren Gough (c) Devon Malcolm (c) | Melbourne Cricket Ground | 29-Dec-1994 |
| 22 | Dominic Cork | England v West Indies | Richie Richardson (b) Junior Murray (lbw) Carl Hooper (lbw) | Old Trafford | 30-Jul-1995 |
| 23 | Darren Gough | England v Australia | Ian Healy (c) Stuart MacGill (b) Colin Miller (b) | Sydney Cricket Ground | 02-Jan-1999 |
| 24 | Wasim Akram | Pakistan v Sri Lanka | Romesh Kaluwitharana (c) Niroshan Bandaratilleke (b) Pramodya Wickramasinghe (b) | Gaddafi Stadium | 06-Mar-1999 |
| 25 | Wasim Akram | Pakistan v Sri Lanka | Avishka Gunawardene (c) Chaminda Vaas (b) Mahela Jayawardene (c) | Bangabandhu National Stadium | 14-Mar-1999 |
| 26 | Nuwan Zoysa | Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe | Trevor Gripper (lbw) Murray Goodwin (c) Neil Johnson (lbw) | Harare Sports Club | 26-Nov-1999 |
| 27 | Abdul Razzaq | Pakistan v Sri Lanka | Romesh Kaluwitharana (c) Rangana Herath (lbw) Ravindra Pushpakumara (lbw) | Galle International Stadium | 21-Jun-2000 |
| 28 | Glenn McGrath | Australia v West Indies | Sherwin Campbell (c) Brian Lara (c) Jimmy Adams (c) | W.A.C.A. Ground | 01-Dec-2000 |
| 29 | Harbhajan Singh | India v Australia | Ricky Ponting (lbw) Adam Gilchrist (lbw) Shane Warne (c) | Eden Gardens | 11-Mar-2001 |
| 30 | Mohammad Sami | Pakistan v Sri Lanka | Charitha Buddhika (lbw) Nuwan Zoysa (lbw) Muttiah Muralitharan (b) | Gaddafi Stadium | 08-Mar-2002 |
| 31 | Jermaine Lawson | West Indies v Australia | Brett Lee (b) Stuart MacGill (b) Justin Langer (lbw) | Kensington Oval | 05-May-2003 |
| 32 | Alok Kapali | Bangladesh v Pakistan | Shabbir Ahmed (c) Danish Kaneria (lbw) Umar Gul (lbw) | Arbab Niaz Stadium | 29-Aug-2003 |
| 33 | Andy Blignaut | Zimbabwe v Bangladesh | Hannan Sarkar (lbw) Mohammad Ashraful (c) Mushfiqur Rahman (c) | Harare Sports Club | 22-Feb-2004 |
| 34 | Matthew Hoggard | England v West Indies | Ramnaresh Sarwan (c) Shivnarine Chanderpaul (lbw) Ryan Hinds (c) | Kensington Oval | 03-Apr-2004 |
| 35 | James Franklin | New Zealand v Bangladesh | Manjural Islam Rana (c) Mohammad Rafique (c) Tapash Baisya (b) | Bangabandhu National Stadium | 20-Oct-2004 |
| 36 | Irfan Pathan | India v Pakistan | Salman Butt (c) Younis Khan (lbw) Mohammad Yousuf (b) | National Stadium | 29-Jan-2006 |
| 37 | Ryan Sidebottom | England v New Zealand | Stephen Fleming (c) Mathew Sinclair (c) Jacob Oram (lbw) | Seddon Park | 08-Mar-2008 |
| 38 | Peter Siddle | Australia v England | Alastair Cook (c) Matt Prior (b) Stuart Broad (lbw) | Brisbane Cricket Ground | 25-Nov-2010 |
| 39 | Stuart Broad | England v India | MS Dhoni (c) Harbhajan Singh (lbw) Praveen Kumar (b) | Trent Bridge | 30-Jul-2011 |
| 40 | Sohag Gazi | Bangladesh v New Zealand | Corey Anderson (lbw) BJ Watling (c) Doug Bracewell (c) | Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium | 13-Oct-2013 |
| 41 | Stuart Broad | England v Sri Lanka | Kumar Sangakkara (c) Dinesh Chandimal (c) Shaminda Eranga (c) | Headingley | 20-Jun-2014 |
| 42 | Rangana Herath | Sri Lanka v Australia | Adam Voges (c) Peter Nevill (lbw) Mitchell Starc (lbw) | Galle International Stadium | 05-Aug-2016 |
| 43 | Moeen Ali | England v South Africa | Dean Elgar (c) Kagiso Rabada (c) Morne Morkel (lbw) | Kennington Oval | 31-Jul-2017 |
| 44 | Jasprit Bumrah | India v West Indies | Darren Bravo (c) Shamarh Brooks (lbw) Roston Chase (lbw) | Sabina Park | 31-Aug-2019 |
| 45 | Naseem Shah | Pakistan v Bangladesh | Najmul Hossain Shanto (lbw) Taijul Islam (lbw) Mahmudullah (c) | Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium | 09-Feb-2020 |
| 46 | Keshav Maharaj | South Africa v West Indies | Kieran Powell (c) Jason Holder (c) Joshua Da Silva (c) | Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium | 21-Jun-2021 |
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