Victorian cricketer claims incredible triple hat-trick

What's the story?

Hat-tricks in cricket, be it grade, international or domestic, are as scarce as hen's teeth and triple hat-tricks are virtually unheard of. However, a Victorian third-grade cricketer achieved that incredible feat in what was a simply mind-boggling spell of bowling.

Nick Gooden, playing his first match since last December, claimed five wickets from five deliveries, and finished his spell with an incredible eight wickets in total. Astonishingly, those eight scalps came from just 10 deliveries.

In case you didn't know...

Gooden had failed to turn out for his side Yallourn North since December 2016 due to a slew of injuries but made a sensational return to action. Six of the eight dismissals were bowled while he also executed a run-out later in the innings to completely cripple Latrobe's chances in the Central Gippsland cricket competition.

The heart of the matter

Gooden didn't let the achievement go to his head, claiming that a helpful surface and a lot of luck aided him in his effort. "I just roll the arm over, I'm not fast or anything like that," he explained to Weekend Sunrise. "I really wasn't bowling very well. I started with two wides... one was a big off-side wide and the other was a big leg-side wide and everyone was laughing at me."

"My brother's best bowling figures were 8/30 so after I had the hat-trick I thought 'maybe I can beat him', and that's all I really tried to do," he added with a smile.

Gooden also confessed that his bowling efforts were an attempt to compensate for meagre returns with the bat. He was dismissed for a golden duck off the third ball of the team's innings

Parallels from history

In 2014, Exeter cricketer Adam Bourke achieved the same feat in the reserve competition of the Tasmanian Cricket League. According to various statisticians, only four other cricketers have taken triple hattricks.

Author's take

While Gooden's inspiring spell came in one of the lowest tiers of cricket, it is nonetheless a staggering achievement and he deserves all the plaudits he is getting from people across the globe.