What Is a Hat-Trick in Cricket? — Rules, Records & Famous Examples

A hat-trick in cricket is one of the game's most celebrated individual feats: a bowler dismisses three batters on three consecutive deliveries. The term originates from the 19th-century practice of awarding a bowler a hat for the achievement — a tradition that has long since been replaced by instant replays and rapturous applause, but the name stuck.

What counts as a hat-trick?

The three deliveries must result in wickets — any mode of dismissal counts (bowled, LBW, caught, stumped, run out off the bowler's delivery). The deliveries must be consecutive, but they do not need to be in the same over. A hat-trick can span two overs in the same innings or — more rarely — bridge two innings in the same match.

Can a hat-trick span two matches?

No — a hat-trick must be completed within the same match. If a bowler takes the last wicket of one match, the three-ball sequence resets in the next game. However, some statistical records track 'career hat-tricks' informally — where a bowler dismisses a batter on the last ball of one match and the first ball of the next — but these are not official hat-tricks by ICC rules.

Is the hat-trick ball announced to the crowd?

In professional cricket, the public address announcer will typically inform the crowd that the next delivery is a 'hat-trick ball', creating one of the most electric atmospheres in the sport. Fielders cluster close to the bat, the bowler focuses every ounce of skill, and the new batter faces enormous pressure having just walked to the crease.

Hat-trick records

• First Test hat-trick: Fred Spofforth (Australia) v England, Melbourne, 1879.
• First ODI World Cup hat-trick: Chetan Sharma (India) v New Zealand, 1987 World Cup.
• Most hat-tricks in international cricket: Wasim Akram (Pakistan) with 4 hat-tricks across formats.
• T20 World Cup hat-tricks: Brett Lee, Lasith Malinga, Samuel Badree, and several others have taken hat-tricks in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
• Lasith Malinga is the only bowler to take two hat-tricks in ODI World Cups (2007 and 2011), and he uniquely took four wickets in four consecutive balls against South Africa in 2007 — an achievement that went beyond a hat-trick.

Why is a hat-trick so rare?

Even elite Test bowlers average only one wicket every 10-20 deliveries in their careers. Taking three in a row requires sustained accuracy, variation, and an element of luck — an edge that goes to hand rather than through the gap, or an LBW that would be reviewed out on a different day. In Test cricket, hat-tricks occur roughly once every 100 matches. In T20s, where batters are far more aggressive and fielding placements are attacking, hat-tricks are slightly more common because catch opportunities multiply.

Do fielders affect whether a hat-trick counts?

Yes — if a fielder drops a catch from a hat-trick ball, the sequence is broken. The bowler does not get a hat-trick if the batter survives because of a fielding error. However, if the umpire gives not out incorrectly and the decision is overturned by DRS, and the batter is subsequently dismissed on the same delivery via DRS review, the wicket stands and the hat-trick sequence continues.