Curtis Campher of Ireland bagged four wickets in four consecutive deliveries against the Netherlands on Monday in their first match of the T20 World Cup in Oman.
Camphor, a right handed pacer became the first bowler in the history of the T20 World Cup to register this feat. However, he is only the third bowler after Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan to take four wickets in four consecutive deliveries in T20Is.
It was only the second hattrick in T20 World Cup. The first was done by the Australian great pacer Brett Lee in 2007 against Bangladesh.
The 22-year-old allrounder was born and brought up in South Africa. He also represented South Africa at the U-19 level. But he decided to leave his homeland and make Ireland a new home.
Campher got his first wicket removing Dutch batter Colin Ackermann off the second ball of the 10th over of the Netherlands’ innings. He then removed Ryan ten Doeschate, Scott Edwards, and Roelof van der Merwe off three consecutive deliveries.
One of these wickets was caught, but to take the other three, Campher didn’t take any help as they fell being lbw, lbw and bowled.
Ireland and the Netherlands are fighting in Group A of Round 1 in the T20 World Cup. They also have Sri Lanka and Namibia in the same group. After playing one game against each other, the top two teams of this group will advance to the Super 12s of the World Cup.
In Group B of Round 1, Bangladesh, Scotland, Oman and Papua New Guinea are fighting for the top spot in order to book a Super 12 berth. In the first two matches of this group, Oman beat Papua New Guinea, and Scotland upset the Tigers.
Source: United News of Bangladesh