Six bowlers who have taken 4 wickets in 4 balls
Picking up a hat-trick in cricket is quite a rare feat in itself, but there have been few instances where the bowlers have gone a notch ahead and picked up 4 wickets in 4 balls. This is a feat so rare that it has happened only once in international cricket. People often refer to this as a “ double hat-trick” since it consists of two sets of overlapping pairs of hat-tricks.
Balls 1,2,3 consists of one set and balls 2, 3, 4 consists of the other hence the term double hat-trick.
Here we look at 6 such instances where the bowlers have managed to achieve this unthinkable feat and stunned their opponents in the process.
1) Lasith Malinga
Who could forget this heart-stopping thriller from the 2007 World Cup! The Proteas almost choked yet again but managed to somehow scrape through to a one-wicket win in their Super Eight clash against Sri Lanka. The Proteas were cruising at 206/5 while chasing down just 210 to win and were at a striking distance from a comfortable win.
Lasith Malinga though had other plans. In the 45th over Malinga had Shaun Pollock clean bowled off his fifth ball and had Andrew Hall caught at covers of the final ball of that over. Coming back to bowl the 47th over Malinga struck off the first ball to send Jacques Kallis on his way and completed his hat-trick in the process. Kallis was caught behind for a well made 86 and his dismissal really set the cat amongst the pigeons.
Malinga made it four in a row with the wicket of Makhaya Ntini who was castled by that famous yorker. South Africa huffed and puffed their way to get the remaining three runs and ended up on the winning side.