Ireland’s Curtis Campher became the first bowler to take four wickets in four balls in a T20 World Cup match with a devastating spell in their win over Netherlands in Abu Dhabi.
The 22-year-old seamer reduced the Dutch from 51-2 to 51-6, having Colin Ackermann caught down the leg side before Ryan ten Doeschate and then Scott Edwards departed to lbw decisions.
The on-field umpire originally gave Edwards not out, but Ireland successfully overturned it on review - and Roelof van der Merwe then dragged his first delivery onto the stumps to give Campher his fourth wicket in as many balls.
Campher said: "My heart was racing quite high but I just took a few deep breaths at the top of my run and made sure that I just managed my skills."
Only two other players have achieved that feat in T20 internationals - Afghanistan's Rashid Khan, who did it against Ireland in 2019 and Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka, who followed suit against New Zealand later that year.
The only previous hat-trick in the T20 World Cup was recorded by Australia's Brett Lee, who took three Bangladesh wickets in consecutive balls at the first edition of the tournament in 2007.
Campher finished with figures of 4-26 to help restrict the Netherlands to 106 all out in their 20 overs, before Ireland passed that total with 29 balls to spare in a seven-wicket victory.
Campher praised captain Andy Balbirnie for his encouragement, saying: "To be honest, I wasn't feeling great out there with the ball but the skipper told me to crack the game open. He's a great skip. He gives you free rein when you're bowling to do what you want.
"I'm very fortunate to get [four wickets in four balls]. To be honest I wasn't really thinking about it, maybe it will sink in a little bit later. I was just trying to do what I wanted to do.
"We knew when Ten Doeschate walked in that we had to go straight to him and that worked and we just carried on with that. That was a plan and we worked on that with our analysts.
"Any time you get the opportunity to take a wicket in international cricket, it's a real privilege. Any wicket I can do for the team is a real boost.
"Obviously after that over I didn't really finish the last over as well as I wanted to but I'm learning, I'm young and I just want to do the best I can."
Who is Curtis Campher?
- The 22-year-old grew up in Johannesburg and represented South Africa at Under-19 level before a chance conversation with Ireland's Niall O'Brien revealed that his grandmother, who came from Derry, qualified him to don the green shirt.
- Having moved to Ireland at the beginning of 2020, Campher was selected for their A team (the Wolves) to play Namibia in a 50-over match and scored 54 on debut - although he failed to take a wicket.
- He registered another half-century on his full ODI debut against England at Southampton in July 2020, top-scoring with 59 not out from 118 balls and going on to claim the wicket of Tom Banton.
- Campher bettered his batting performance with 68 from 87 balls in the second ODI and finished the three-match series, which England won 2-1, with five wickets at an average of 28.80.
- Ireland handed Campher his T20I debut in August and, until Monday's heroics in Abu Dhabi, his best bowling figures were 3-19 during the warm-up series against the UAE ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Campher 'makes something happen'
Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie: "He makes something happen. I said that when he played last year against England, he obviously burst onto the scene with a 50 and a couple of wickets.
"The first over didn't go well for him [against Netherlands], but we broke it down to basics and said bowl as straight as possible. He did just that.
"I've not been involved in too many games where an over like that has happened, so I'm just delighted for him."
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