5 players who took a rare hat-trick on international debut

Kagiso Rabada is the most recent bowler to pick up a debut hat-trick

A hat trick remains one of the exceptional achievements in the game of cricket and as the game has become more and more biased towards batsmen, the hat trick remains a feat of glory for the handful of bowlers who manage the spectacularly difficult job of taking 3 wickets in 3 successive deliveries. There have been

There have been several interesting variations in the ways of the hat trick over the years but a hat trick on international debut remains one of the crowning glories, more so as so few cricketers have ever managed to achieve this. It is a definitive way to announce your arrival into the cricketing fraternity and provides a boost both for the self-esteem of the bowler and the expectations from the supporters.

Here is an exclusive list of 5 cricketers with hat tricks on international debut.

1. Maurice Allom

Maurice Allom became president of the MCC in his post-retirement years

Maurice James Carrick Allom has an enviable record in cricket history. He is the first bowler to pick up a hat-trick on Test Debut, though he played only 5 Test matches, the English right-arm medium pace bowler ran through New Zealand’s middle order in the first innings at Lancaster Park, Christchurch in 1929-30. His victims were Tom Lowry (LBW), Ken James (caught behind) and Ted Badcock (bowled).

Allom’s height allowed him to swerve the ball sharply in the windy weather and the 6 feet 6 inches tall bowler scalped 4 wickets from 5 balls in his 8th over on his first day, becoming the first player to do so. Later Chris Old and Wasim Akram, too, emulated this stupendous achievement in Tests and Lasith Malinga in ODIs.