West Indiesk: 4 Wickets In 4 Balls For Jason Holder; Ignites Double Hat-trick Debate
Jan 31: Two times three equals six in most areas of life but not when it comes to the quirky cricketing statistic every bowler wants on their record.
West Indies allrounder Jason Holder claimed a hat-trick, aka three wickets in three balls, during the fifth and final T20 match of his side’s home series win against England on Sunday (Monday NZ time). And in the very next ball, Holder took another wicket to make it four in four balls, or in cricketing terminology, a double hat-trick.
But not everyone agrees, with some suggesting a double hat-trick should be six wickets in six balls as crunching the numbers would suggest and there are commentators who refuse to acknowledge this too.
Four wickets in four balls is rare enough. Holder joins Lasith Malinga, Rashid Khan and Curtis Campher as the only other bowlers to have taken double hat-tricks or four-in-four in T20 internationals.
They are rare but they do happen.
If the Malinga one sounds familiar, it’s probably because it came against Black Caps in 2019 in Kandy.
Speaking of the Black Caps, Neil Wagner, who at times was a year away from becoming eligible for the national side, claimed a double hat-trick for Otago against Wellington in a Plunket shield match in an over where he took five wickets.
Holder was denied a chance at a fifth-wicket in five balls because his fourth ended England’s innings to give the West Indies a 17 run win at Kensington Oval in Barbados to clinch the series for the home side 3-2.
Holder and the West Indies reservedly celebrated an impending victory, with what they thought was two balls left in the match.
Holder’s outstanding figures of 5-27 from 2.5 overs are obviously worth talking about, as was the series win, but the far bigger discussion point was the double hat-trick vs the four-in-four.
Cricket tragics remain divided on the subject, with examples often cited such as, if a rugby player scores four tries it’s not considered a double hat-trick and same if a footballer scores four goals.
FOUR IN FOUR!
JASON HOLDER HAS WON THE SERIES WITH FOUR WICKETS IN FOUR BALLS!#WIvENG
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 30, 2022
But others suggest it’s a cricketing quirk that has been around forever and should remain.
Maybe it’s an endless debate, where no definitive middle ground will ever be found, but undoubtedly more cases will be pushed for both sides of the argument whenever the next double hat-trick – aka four-in-four – stuns the cricketing world.
