Hitting three boundaries in three balls is much easier for a batsman as compared to a bowler picking up three wickets in three balls. It’s easier for a batter to connect with the ball consecutive times, over a bowler having to deceive batters over and over again. And that’s why, hat-tricks always go down in cricket history, regardless of which format of the game is being played.
What is a bowling hat-trick in cricket?
When a bowler picks up three wickets in three consecutive deliveries, it is termed as a bowling hat-trick in cricket. This can be interrupted by the end of an over and the bowler resuming his spell at the start of another over or innings, but he needs to get three dismissals in three consecutive balls. Also, these only take in consideration wickets attributed to the bowler, and run-outs don’t count.
ODI World Cup hat-tricks list
Now picking up a hat-trick on the world’s biggest stage is the best thing that can happen to an international bowler, and here on this page, we’re running through every instance of a bowler picking up an ODI World Cup hat-trick. This includes every edition of the CWC right from 1975 till date, with this list last updated on 4th October 2023, before the start of the ICC World Cup 2023 in India.
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The first time a hat-trick was recorded in this competition was not in the first or second edition, but the fourth edition of the ODI World Cup. It was achieved by India’s Chetan Sharma vs New Zealand in Nagpur in 1987, which remains the only instance of ODI World Cup hat-tricks where the bowler got all his three hat-trick dismissals by getting the batters BOWLED. See the complete ICC World Cup hat-tricks list below:
ICC World Cup hattricks list
| Sr. | Bowler | Against | Victims | Date |
| 1 | Chetan Sharma ๐ฎ๐ณ | New Zealand | Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith, Ewen Chatfield | 31 Oct 1987 |
| 2 | Saqlain Mushtaq ๐ต๐ฐ | Zimbabwe | Henry Olonga, Adam Huckle, Pommie Mbangwa | 11 Jun 1999 |
| 3 | Chaminda Vaas ๐ฑ๐ฐ | Bangladesh | Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful, Ehsanul Haque | 14 Feb 2003 |
| 4 | Brett Lee ๐ฆ๐บ | Kenya | Kennedy Otieno, Brijal Patel, David Obuya | 15 Mar 2003 |
| 5 | Lasith Malinga ๐ฑ๐ฐ | South Africa | Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini | 28 Mar 2007 |
| 6 | Kemar Roach ๐ด | Netherlands | Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots, Berend Westdijk | 28 Feb 2011 |
| 7 | Lasith Malinga ๐ฑ๐ฐ (2) | Kenya | Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche, Elijah Otieno | 01 Mar 2011 |
| 8 | Steven Finn ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | Australia | Brad Haddin, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson | 14 Feb 2015 |
| 9 | JP Duminy ๐ฟ๐ฆ | Sri Lanka | Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Tharindu Kaushal | 18 Mar 2015 |
| 10 | Mohammed Shami ๐ฎ๐ณ | Afghanistan | Mohammad Nabi, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman | 22 Jun 2019 |
| 11 | Trent Boult ๐ณ๐ฟ | Australia | Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc, Jason Behrendorff | 29 Jun 2019 |
| 12 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
When Chaminda Vaas achieved an ODI World Cup hat-trick in the CWC 2003, it became the first and remains till date the only instance where a bowler got a hat-trick in the first three balls of an innings in this competition. And while most of the players on this ODI World Cup hat-tricks list were genuine bowlers, South Africa’s JP Duminy surprised us all with 3 wickets with his part-time off-spin against Sri Lanka in CWC 2015.
Talking about Sri Lanka, their bowling legend Lasith Malinga went into CWC history when he became the first (and currently only) bowler to pick two ODI World Cup hat-tricks, doing so in consecutive World Cups in 2007 an 2011. His CWC 2007 hat-trick against South Africa was especially amazing because there, he became the first bowler in men’s ODIs to pick four wickets in four consecutive deliveries, only for SA to narrowly edge home eventually.
The last three editions of the Cricket World Cup have seen two hat-tricks each, so we know what to expect from the ICC World Cup 2023 as well. With more aggressive intent in the batters, wickets falling in heaps is more likely in today’s day and age. Trent Boult and Mohammed Shami will get the chance to join Malinga as the only players with multiple CWC hat-tricks, as they’re playing the CWC 2023 edition t00.
For more updates from CWC 2023 as well as other general cricket news from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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