The ongoing T20 Blast in England provides a platform for more than one player to impress with their performances. During the match between Essex and Sussex, South Africa spinner Simon Harmer spun weaves around the Sussex batters. The skipper completed his hat-trick with his first three balls of the match to help his team to a 25-run victory over Sussex.
Off-break spinner Harmer, who made his Test debut for South Africa in 2015, signed a Kolpak deal and has since then dominated county cricket in England. He is the first bowler since 2013 to take a hat-trick for his team.
Feroze Khushi's Fifty
In the match played at the Hove ground in England, Sussex won the toss and decided to bowl first. For Essex, opener Firoz Khushi scored the highest, 55 off 38 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. His innings helped Essex score 163 runs for 7 wickets while batting first. For the opponents, Shadab Khan took three wickets, giving away 28 runs in his 4 overs.
Harmer's hat-trick
Simon Harmer wreaked havoc on the Sussex team chasing 164 runs. He did not let the Sussex batters settle into the game and wreaked havoc as soon as he came in the third over of the innings. He completed the hat-trick with the wickets of Tom Alsop (4), Shadab Khan (0) and Michael Burgess (0). This left the Sussex team reeling at 15 for 4 as they could not recover from this upset. Sussex's team was reduced to 138 runs by the end of the game. Harmer ended the game with 4 wickets for 28 runs in his spell of four overs.
Alsop, who hit a half-century against Surrey on Sunday, tried to a short over extra cover but a thick edge off his bat took it straight to Sam Cook, who was at the short third. Coming at No. 4, Shadab was the next to be sent back to the pavilion. The star all-rounder hit straight to Feroze Khushi at square leg to endure a golden duck. Harmer completed a sensational hat-trick by trapping Michael Burgess leg-before on the next delivery.
In doing so, Harmer became the third bowler to take a hat-trick in a T20 match for Essex in England. Earlier in the year 2013, Shaun Tait took a hat-trick and before that, in 2004, Dimitri Mascarenhas also achieved the same feat.
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