Lawson - the fourth West Indian to perform a hat-trick by Rajesh Kumar

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Scorecard:	West Indies v Australia
Player:	JJC Lawson

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Jermaine Lawson, who had dismissed Brett Lee and Stuart MacGill (with the second and third balls off his 33rd over) in Australian's first innings and Justin Langer (with his first ball in the second innings) in the third Test at Bridgetown on May 5, achieved a rare hat-trick and became the fourth West Indian after Wesley Hall, Lance Gibbs and Courtney Walsh to have accomplished the feat in Tests.

Lawson provided the 31st instance of a hat-trick in Test Cricket, which is the first on West Indian soil.

The first bowler to perform a hat-trick was Fredrick 'Demon' Spofforth for Australia against England at Melbourne on January 2, 1879 in only the third Test match ever contested when he dismissed Vernon Royle, Francis MacKinnon and Thomas Emmett off three successive balls to reduce England to 26 for 7 in the first innings. Thanks to Spofforth's tally of thirteen wickets in the Test, Australia won the Test by ten wicets.

Only three bowlers - off spinner Hugh Trumble, leg-spinner,Thomas James Matthews - both Australians, and speedster Wasim Akram of Pakistan have the honour of recording two Test match hat-tricks.

Trumble accomplished the feat both times against England at the same venue in Melbourne, but in two separate series. The first time in January 1902 when he claimed the wickets of Arthur Jones, John Gunn and Sydney Barnes in England's second innings and the second time in March 1904 in his farewell first-class game, dismissing Bernard Bosanquet, Pelham Warner and Arthur Lilley.

Matthew is the only bowler in cricket history to have performed the feat of a hat-trick in each innings of the same Test, both instances being on the afternoon of May 28, 1912 against South Africa at Manchester in the triangular tournament. He captured only six wickets in the Test and all were claimed without any assistance from the fielders. Thomas Ward, who bagged a 'King Pair' (first ball dismissal in both innings) was the third victim in both of Matthews' hat-tricks.

Three bowlers have the proud distinction of recording a hat-trick on their Test debut - medium pacer Maurice Allom (England), off-spinner Peter Petherick (New Zealand) and medium pacer Damien Fleming (Australia). Bowling his eighth over on his first day in Test cricket on January 10, 1930 against New Zealand at Christchurch, Allom actually captured four wickets (wowww) in five balls.

England's Willie Bates deserves special mention here. In the 1882-83 Melbourne Test against Australia, Bates by dismissing Percy McDonnell, George Giffen and George Bonnor, not only registered the hat-trick but also posted 55 runs, the second highest on either side in the Test and went on to claim seven wickets in each innings - 7 for 28 off 26.2 overs, followed by 7 for 74 runs - for a match haul of 14 for 102 runs. Thanks to his excellent bowling, England won the Test by an innings and 27 runs, which was the first victory by an innings margin in Tests.

The complete list of bowlers with hat-tricks in Test Cricket:

Bowler            For            Opponents       Venue           Season
F.R.Spofforth     Australia      England         Melbourne       1878-79
W.Bates           England        Australia       Melbourne       1882-83
J.Briggs          England        Australia       Sydney          1891-92
G.A.Lohmann       England        South Africa    Port Elizabeth  1895-96
J.T.Hearne        England        Australia       Leeds           1899
H.Trumble         Australia      England         Melbourne       1901-02
H.Trumble         Australia      England         Melbourne       1903-04
T.J.Matthews(2)   Australia      South Africa    Manchester      1912
M.J.C.Allom       England        New Zealand     Christchurch    1929-30
T.W.J.Goddard     England        South Africa    Johannesburg    1938-39
P.J.Loader        England        West Indies     Leeds           1957
L.F.Kline         Australia      South Africa    Cape Town       1957-58
W.W.Hall          West Indies    Pakistan        Lahore          1958-59
G.M.Griffin       South Africa   England         Lord's          1960
L.R.Gibbs         West Indies    Australia       Adelaide        1960-61
P.J.Petherick     New Zealand    Pakistan        Lahore          1976-77
C.A.Walsh         West Indies    Australia       Brisbane        1988-89
M.G.Hughes        Australia      West Indies     Perth           1988-89
D.W.Fleming       Australia      Pakistan        Rawalpindi      1994-95
S.K.Warne         Australia      England         Melbourne       1994-95
D.G.Cork          England        West Indies     Manchester      1995
D.Gough           England        Australia       Sydney          1998-99
Wasim Akram       Pakistan       Sri Lanka       Lahore          1998-99
Wasim Akram       Pakistan       Sri Lanka       Dhaka           1998-99
D.N.T.Zoysa       Sri Lanka      Zimbabwe        Harare          1999-00
Abdur Razzaq      Pakistan       Sri Lanka       Galle           2000-01
G.D.McGrath       Australia      West Indies     Perth           2000-01
Harbhajan Singh   India          Australia       Kolkata         2000-01
Mohammad Sami     Pakistan       Sri Lanka       Lahore          2001-02
J.J.C.Lawson      West Indies    Australia       Bridgetown      2002-03

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajesh Kumar)