Three unlucky Aussie bowlers to have hat-tricks dropped

Alana King has joined an unfortunate list of Australian bowlers to be denied a hat-trick by dropped catches.

King saw a hat-trick go begging at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday evening when captain Meg Lanning uncharacteristically dropped a straightforward chance at first slip.

It was the third instance of an Australian spilling a catch to spoil a hat-trick.

King had removed Barbados batters Shakera Selman and Shamilia Connell with consecutive deliveries in their Commonwealth Games clash in Birmingham to set up the hat-trick chance.

And after the Australian fielders crowded in close, another well-flighted, hard-spinning leg-break saw King draw a thick edge off the bat of Keila Elliott – only for Lanning to fumble.

Hat-tricks in international cricket are an incredibly hard feat to accomplish, and history shows there's only about a two per cent chance of them occurring in a match.

"No one means to drop the ball or anything, it's just the way the game goes, but I'm happy that I could contribute in whatever way I can," King said.

"Every ball I bowl I'm trying to get a wicket so that was no different.

"It caught the outside edge … and that's just cricket, I guess. But I'm just really happy with how I played today."

Image Id: 9919DDC9E85242AF99DA3D50AD5CF344 Image Id: 9C7C60E858D643C794347457C650145D Image Caption: So close, yet so far as Alana King's hat-trick goes begging // Commonwealth Games Australia

There have been just 27 in the 1,182 women's T20 international matches played, and only 10 of those between full-member nations that play regular women's cricket.

In men's T20 internationals, there have been 37 hat-tricks since Brett Lee was the first to do it against South Africa in 2007, from the 1,716 played so far up to last night's clash between England and South Africa.

Coincidentally, the last time a hat-trick chance was dropped was also in a major T20 tournament, with Adam Zampa the bowler denied when wicketkeeper Matthew Wade put down an edge.

In a lop-sided match at the T20 World Cup in the UAE last November, Zampa had removed Shamim Hossain thanks to a smart catch from Wade behind the stumps before trapping Mahedi Hasan lbw for a golden duck.

Tailender Taskin Ahmed then aimed a booming drive at the hat-trick ball, took the edge and it hit Wade's glove but bounced out again and hit the turf.

"That was my hat-trick ball!" Zampa was heard to implore over the stump mic. "Yeah, I tried to catch it," Wade responded.

Like King against Bangladesh, the missed hat-trick against Bangladesh mattered little to the end result as Australia completed a big win en route to the title.

Perhaps the most famous dropped hat-trick involves Damien Fleming and the late Shane Warne from a Test against India at the Adelaide Oval in 1999.

Image Id: 3F637316BC994988BFDD1E67D9CC349E Image Caption: Warne puts down Srinath at Adelaide in 1999 // Getty

Having dismissed Sourav Ganguly and Ajit Agarkar, caught behind and caught at backward point, with the two balls prior, Fleming – who had already snared a hat-trick on his Test debut – ran in with a parochial crowd fervently clapping his approach to the popping crease.

As fate would have it, the back-of-a-length length delivery moved away just enough to find the edge of a hard-flashing Javagal Srinath … only for Warne to bungle his lines with the catch.

"I did everything from my end," Fleming told cricket.com.au in a decidedly tongue-in-cheek interview in 2014 to mark the 15th anniversary of the moment.

"And the big boy – it hits the palms, goes over his head, no hat-trick."

2022 Commonwealth Games

Australia's squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellington

See all the Commonwealth Games cricket squads here

Group A: Australia, India, Pakistan, Barbados

Group B: England, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka

July 29: Australia beat India by three wickets

July 31: Australia beat Barbados by nine wickets

August 3: Australia v Pakistan (11am local, 8pm AEST)

Semi-finals: August 6, 11am local (8pm AEST) and 6pm local (3am Aug 7 AEST)

Bronze medal match: August 7, 10am local (7pm AEST)

Gold medal match: August 7, 5pm local (2am Aug 8 AEST)

All matches played at Edgbaston Stadium