In cricket, a hat-trick occurs when a bowler takes a wicket with each of three consecutive deliveries. Although hat-tricks can carry over between innings, meaning a batter can be dismissed twice as part of the same hat-trick, they do not carry over between matches. As of July 2025, this feat has only been achieved 49 times, by 45 different bowlers, in more than 2,000 men's Test matches, the form of the sport in which national representative teams compete in matches of up to five days' duration.

The first Test hat-trick was recorded on 2 January 1879, in only the third Test match to take place, by the Australia pace bowler Fred Spofforth, nicknamed "The Demon Bowler", who dismissed three England batters with consecutive deliveries at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The most recent Test hat-trick was taken by Scott Boland in July 2025.

This article relates to men's cricket only. There have been three hat-tricks in women's Test cricket.

Notable Test hat-tricks Bowlers with multiple Test hat-tricks A player has taken two hat-tricks in the same Test match only once. Playing for Australia against South Africa in the first match of the 1912 Triangular Tournament at Old Trafford, Manchester, England, leg spinner Jimmy Matthews took a hat-trick in South Africa's first and second innings, both taken on 28 May 1912. He completed both hat-tricks by dismissing South Africa's Tommy Ward.

Only three other cricketers have taken more than one Test hat-trick: Australian off spinner Hugh Trumble (two years apart, between the same teams at the same ground), Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram (just over a week apart, in consecutive matches between the same teams) and England fast bowler Stuart Broad.

Test hat-tricks spread over two innings Australian Merv Hughes is the only bowler to take a hat-trick where the wickets fell over three overs. This was at WACA, Perth in 1988. He took a wicket (Curtly Ambrose) with the final ball of an over. With the first ball of his next over he took the final wicket of the West Indies innings (Patrick Patterson). He then removed the opener Gordon Greenidge with the first ball of the West Indies second innings. Even more unusually, Hughes's two first-innings wickets were not consecutive, since Tim May had bowled an over himself in between Hughes's two deliveries, and took the wicket of Gus Logie.

Two other hat-tricks have taken place over two innings rather than one, both taken by West Indians against Australia – Courtney Walsh and Jermaine Lawson. Walsh's, at the Gabba in 1988, was unusual since, like Hughes' (which was in the very next Test in the series), other wickets fell between the beginning and end of the hat-trick. After dismissing Dodemaide to finish off Australia's first innings, Walsh did not open the bowling in the Australian second innings, and in fact did not bowl until Australia had already lost two wickets and were 65 for 2: then with his first two deliveries he dismissed Wood and Veletta. Lawson's hat trick was at the Kensington Oval in 2003. He removed tail-enders Lee and MacGill in successive deliveries before Australia declared their first innings (at 605/9), and then took the wicket of Langer with the first delivery of Australia's second innings.

Other notable Test hat-tricks Three players have taken a hat-trick on their Test debut: English medium pace bowler Maurice Allom in 1930, New Zealand off-spinner Peter Petherick in 1976, and Australian pace bowler Damien Fleming in 1994. Alok Kapali took the fewest total Test wickets of any player who recorded a hat-trick, taking only six wickets in his entire Test career. Australian Peter Siddle is the only bowler to take a hat-trick on his birthday. Bangladeshi off spinner Sohag Gazi is the only male player to score a century and take a hat-trick in the same Test match. Sri Lankan seamer Nuwan Zoysa became the first player in the history to take a hat-trick off their first three balls of a Test match. He achieved this against Zimbabwe at Harare in November 1999, dismissing Trevor Gripper, Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson. Indian pacer Irfan Pathan is the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the first over of a Test match, against Pakistan in 2006.

In the five-match series between a Rest of the World XI and England in 1970, a hat-trick was taken by South African Eddie Barlow in the fourth match, at Headingley (the last three of four wickets in five balls). These matches were considered to be Tests at the time, but that status was later removed.

Test hat-tricks

+Key Symbol Meaning Hat-trick taken in debut matchBowlerThe name of the bowlerForThe team for which the bowler was playingAgainstThe team against which the bowler was playingInn.The innings (first or second) in which the hat-trick was achievedTestThe number of the Test within the overall series between the two teamsDismissalsThe three players dismissed by the bowlerVenueThe venue where the hat-trick was achievedDateThe date on which the hat-trick was achievedRef.Reference

+List of Test cricket hat-tricksNo.BowlerForAgainstInn.TestDismissalsVenueDateRef. 1 1 1/1 Vernon Royle (b) Francis MacKinnon (b) Tom Emmett (c Tom Horan) MCG, Melbourne 2 January 1879 2 1 2/3 Percy McDonnell (b) George Giffen (c and b) George Bonnor (c Walter Read) MCG, Melbourne 20 January 1883 3 2 2/3 Walter Giffen (b) Jack Blackham (lbw) Sydney Callaway (c W. G. Grace) Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 2 February 1892 4 2 1/3 Frederick Cook (b) Bonnor Middleton (b) Joseph Willoughby (c Tom Hayward) St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth 14 February 1896 5 2 3/5 Clem Hill (b) Syd Gregory (c Archie MacLaren) Monty Noble (c Ranjitsinhji) Headingley, Leeds 30 June 1899 6 (1/2) 2 2/5 John Gunn (c Sammy Jones) Arthur Jones (c Joe Darling) Sydney Barnes (c and b) MCG, Melbourne 4 January 1902 7 (2/2) 2 5/5 Bernard Bosanquet (c Algy Gehrs) Plum Warner (c and b) Dick Lilley (lbw) MCG, Melbourne 8 March 1904 8 (1/2) 1 1/3 Rolland Beaumont (b) Sid Pegler (lbw) Tommy Ward (lbw) Old Trafford, Manchester 28 May 1912 9 (2/2) 2 1/3 Herbie Taylor (b) Reggie Schwarz (c and b) Tommy Ward (c and b) Old Trafford, Manchester 28 May 1912 10 1 1/4 Tom Lowry (lbw) Ken James (c Tich Cornford) Ted Badcock (b) Lancaster Park, Christchurch 10 January 1930 11 1 1/5 Dudley Nourse (c and b) Norman Gordon (st Les Ames) Billy Wade (b) Old Wanderers, Johannesburg 26 December 1938 12 1 4/5 John Goddard (b) Sonny Ramadhin (c Fred Trueman) Roy Gilchrist (b) Headingley, Leeds 25 July 1957 13 2 2/5 Eddie Fuller (c Richie Benaud) Hugh Tayfield (lbw) Neil Adcock (c Bob Simpson) Newlands, Cape Town 3 January 1958 14 1 3/3 Mushtaq Mohammed (lbw) Fazal Mahmood (c Garfield Sobers) Nasim-ul-Ghani (b) Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore 29 March 1959 15 1 2/5 M. J. K. Smith (c John Waite) Peter Walker (b) Fred Trueman (b) Lord's, London 24 June 1960 16 1 4/5 Ken Mackay (lbw) Wally Grout (c Garfield Sobers) Frank Misson (b) Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 30 January 1961 17 1 1/3 Javed Miandad (c Richard Hadlee) Wasim Raja (c and b) Intikhab Alam (c Geoff Howarth) Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 9 October 1976 18 1 & 2 1/5 Tony Dodemaide (c Viv Richards) Mike Veletta (c Carl Hooper) Graeme Wood (lbw) The Gabba, Brisbane 18–20 November 1988 19 1 & 2 2/5 Curtly Ambrose (c Ian Healy) Patrick Patterson (c Tony Dodemaide) Gordon Greenidge (lbw) WACA, Perth 3–4 December 1988 20 2 2/3 Aamer Malik (c Michael Bevan) Inzamam-ul-Haq (lbw) Saleem Malik (c Ian Healy) Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi 9 October 1994 21 2 2/5 Phil DeFreitas (lbw) Darren Gough (c Ian Healy) Devon Malcolm (c David Boon) MCG, Melbourne 29 December 1994 22 2 4/6 Richie Richardson (b) Junior Murray (lbw) Carl Hooper (lbw) Old Trafford, Manchester 30 July 1995 23 1 5/5 Ian Healy (c Warren Hegg) Stuart MacGill (b) Colin Miller (b) Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 2 January 1999 24 Wasim Akram (1/2) 1 3/4 Romesh Kaluwitharana (c Moin Khan) Niroshan Bandaratilleke (b) Pramodya Wickramasinghe (b) Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 6 March 1999 25 Wasim Akram (2/2) 2 4/4 Avishka Gunawardene (c Shahid Afridi) Chaminda Vaas (b) Mahela Jayawardene (c Wajahatullah Wasti) Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka 14 March 1999 26 Nuwan Zoysa 1 2/3 Trevor Gripper (lbw) Murray Goodwin (c Romesh Kaluwitharana) Neil Johnson (lbw) Harare Sports Club, Harare 26 November 1999 27 Abdul Razzaq 1 2/3 Romesh Kaluwitharana (c Moin Khan) Rangana Herath (lbw) Ravi Pushpakumara (lbw) Galle International Stadium, Galle 21 June 2000 28 1 2/5 Sherwin Campbell (c Ricky Ponting) Brian Lara (c Stuart MacGill) Jimmy Adams (c Justin Langer) WACA, Perth 1 December 2000 29 Harbhajan Singh 1 2/3 Ricky Ponting (lbw) Adam Gilchrist (lbw) Shane Warne (c Sadagoppan Ramesh) Eden Gardens, Calcutta 11 March 2001 30 Mohammad Sami 1 3/3 Charitha Buddhika (lbw) Nuwan Zoysa (lbw) Muttiah Muralitharan (b) Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 8 March 2002 31 1 & 2 3/4 Brett Lee (b) Stuart MacGill (b) Justin Langer (lbw) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown 2–5 May 2003 32 Alok Kapali 1 2/3 Shabbir Ahmed (c Mashrafe Mortaza) Danish Kaneria (lbw) Umar Gul (lbw) Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar 29 August 2003 33 2 1/2 Hannan Sarkar (lbw) Mohammad Ashraful (c sub (Travis Friend)) Mushfiqur Rahman (c Tatenda Taibu) Harare Sports Club, Harare 22 February 2004 34 2 3/4 Ramnaresh Sarwan (c Ashley Giles) Shivnarine Chanderpaul (lbw) Ryan Hinds (c Andrew Flintoff) Kensington Oval, Bridgetown 3 April 2004 35 1 1/2 Manjural Islam Rana (c Brendon McCullum) Mohammad Rafique (c Scott Styris) Tapash Baisya (b) Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka 20 October 2004 36 Irfan Pathan 1 3/3 Salman Butt (c Rahul Dravid) Younis Khan (lbw) Mohammad Yousuf (b) National Stadium, Karachi 29 January 2006 37 2 1/3 Stephen Fleming (c Alastair Cook) Mathew Sinclair (c Alastair Cook) Jacob Oram (lbw) Seddon Park, Hamilton 8 March 2008 38 1 1/5 Alastair Cook (c Shane Watson) Matt Prior (b) Stuart Broad (lbw) Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane 25 November 2010 39 (1/2) 1 2/4 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c James Anderson) Harbhajan Singh (lbw) Praveen Kumar (b) Trent Bridge, Nottingham 30 July 2011 40 2 1/2 Corey Anderson (lbw) BJ Watling (c Mushfiqur Rahim) Doug Bracewell (c Shakib Al Hasan) Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong 13 October 2013 41 (2/2) 1 2/2 Kumar Sangakkara (c Ian Bell) Dinesh Chandimal (c Alastair Cook) Shaminda Eranga (c Matt Prior) Headingley, Leeds 20 June 2014 42 1 2/3 Adam Voges (c Dimuth Karunaratne) Peter Nevill (lbw) Mitchell Starc (lbw) Galle International Stadium, Galle 5 August 2016 43 2 3/4 Dean Elgar (c Ben Stokes) Kagiso Rabada (c Ben Stokes) Morné Morkel (lbw) The Oval, London 31 July 2017 44 1 2/2 Darren Bravo (c KL Rahul) Shamarh Brooks (lbw) Roston Chase (lbw) Sabina Park, Kingston 31 August 2019 45 2 1/2 Nazmul Hossain Shanto (lbw) Taijul Islam (lbw) Mahmudullah Riyad (c Haris Sohail) Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi 9 February 2020 46 2 2/2 Kieran Powell (c Anrich Nortje) Jason Holder (c Keegan Petersen) Joshua Da Silva (c Wiaan Mulder) Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet 21 June 2021 47 12/3 Nathan Smith (b) Matt Henry (c Ben Duckett) Tim Southee (lbw) Basin Reserve, Wellington7 December 2024 48 12/2 Justin Greaves (c Babar Azam) Tevin Imlach (lbw) Kevin Sinclair (c Babar Azam) Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan25 January 2025 49 23/3 Justin Greaves (c Beau Webster) Shamar Joseph (lbw) Jomel Warrican (b) Sabina Park, Kingston14 July 2025

By team England and Australia combined have taken over half of all Test match hat-tricks to date, 27 of 49.

+Test hat-tricks by teamTeamHat-tricks No. of bowlers 15 14 12 10 6 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 Total 49 45

By bowler +Bowlers with multiple hat-tricks Bowler Hat-tricks 2

By type of bowling