Dubai: A hat-trick is a rare occurrence in cricket, making it a cherished feat. A double hat-trick in an innings is rarer. How about a double hat-trick in an over? Mind-boggling indeed because that’s a wicket off every ball of the over. That’s what Dubai teenager Harshit Seth achieved on November 28.
Seth reeled off six wickets from six deliveries in an over against visiting Pakistan team Hyderabad Hawks Academy RCG. The left-arm spinner finished with eight wickets to help the Dubai Cricket Council Starlets bundle out the visitors for 44. The match was part of the six-team under-19 Karwan Global Twenty20 League, conducted by Ajman Cricket Council at the Eden Gardens ground.
The Dubai Gems Modern Academy Grade 11 student, who has also represented the UAE Under-16 category, said about the dream over: “I didn’t expect it. Never thought any bowler would ever get six wickets [in an over]. I just wanted to keep bowling as if I didn’t get any wicket and not think about it.”
What was the pressure like when nearing the double hat-trick? “No, I was not under any pressure. I was a bit nervous when I prepared to bowl the sixth ball. But I didn’t want to get greedy because when you start going for wickets, then things could go wrong. So I didn’t want to go for the wicket, Just wanted to stick to the basics of a good line and length. That got me the wickets,” the teenager said
Four of Seth’s eight wickets were bowled, three leg-before the wicket and one caught. That speaks volumes of the accuracy of the left-arm spinner, who started as a pace bowler.
Former UAE off-spinner Salman Farooq, Seth’s mentor, said: Getting a double-hat-trick is a special day for anyone. I told him to enjoy the moment and move forward as the game is a great leveller.”
Farooq said the opposition were a good team. “I have been an international player, so I could say that they [the rivals] were a quality team, and nothing should take away the credit from the kid [Seth].”
True enough, Seth could not get even a single wicket against the same opponents in the semi-finals.
A double hat-trick in an over has never been achieved in international cricket. But a similar feat was recorded in Australia in January 2017, when Golden Point Cricket Club bowler Aled Carey claimed a wicket of every ball in an over against East Ballarat in the fourth-team fixture match in Victoria.
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Mohandas Menon, a leading Indian statistician, said according to official records, G Sirett also claimed a double hat-trick in an over for Rowland United against Royal Warwickshire Regimental Association in 1951.
“I also remember YS Ramaswami achieved a similar feat in school cricket in 1930 in Madras [current Chennai],” added the statistician, who witnessed the 10-wicket haul in an innings by Ajax Patel during New Zealand’s loss to India in Mumbai.
According to Menon, there are at least three instances of five wickets in five balls in record books. One of them was by the West Indian legend Gary Sobers when he turned out for EW Swanton’s XI against Malaysia at the Padang in Kuala Lumpur in 1963-64.
CH Little’s feat for New Edinburgh came against Ottawa at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Canada, in 1949, while W Martin achieved the landmark for Brantham against Suffolk club at Brantham, England, in 1952.
