A statistical look at Herath's hattrick against Australia

Veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has for quite some time been Sri Lanka’s spin bowling spearhead in Test matches. Be it the turning tracks in the sub-continent or the grassy wickets in England and Australia, Herath has more often than not delivered for the Asian islanders.

After a nine-wicket haul in the first Test against Australia. Herath has lit up the second game too which is currently underway at Galle. His first scalp on Friday was Aussie captain Steve Smith whom he cleaned up with a slider and then he picked up a hat-trick in the 25th over.Australia were struggling at 80/4 with Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh trying to resurrect the innings but then Herath gatecrashed their party.

After bowling three dot balls to Voges he looped one up to him. Voges was beaten in flight but nonetheless went through with a drive. The mistimed shot was flying low to the left of Dimuth Karuraratne but the Sri Lankan opener dived to complete a stupendous catch. Voges had no option but to shake his head and walk back to the pavilion.

The left-arm tweaker’s next victim was opponent wicketkeeper Peter Nevill. Herath who has been using his arm-balls quite effectively throughout his career did it once again to get rid of Nevill. The slider missed his bat and struck him on his front pad and the umpire had no choice but to raise his finger. Nevill had a brief discussion with Marsh to check if he was indeed struck right in front but soon realized there was nothing to save him.

Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc walked out into the middle to face Hearth’s hat-trick delivery and the wily tweaker trapped him with a big turner. Herath’s delivery spun back sharply and hit Starc on the front pad but the umpire turned down the appeal. Sri Lanka had a review left and Herath convinced captain Angelo Mathews to take it. Hawkeye showed the ball was hitting the top of middle stump and there was no inside edge involved.

Much to the delight of the hosts, Starc was shown the door and with it, Herath became the second Sri Lankan after former pacer Nuwan Zoysa to take a Test hat-trick.

The 38-year-old has been key for Sri Lanka in Test matches. He has taken 313 wickets already from just 71 Tests with best figures of 9/127 in an innings. However, he has failed to replicate the success in One-Day Internationals where he has bagged just 74 wickets from 71 outings.