Picture Credit: Twitter
Ireland’s Joshua little lived the dreams of many bowlers when he picked a World Cup hat-trick and that too against a champions side like New Zealand. The Ireland pacer tore apart New Zealand’s lower middle order as he first dismissed Kane Williamson who was well set at the crease and was going strong. Little dismissed Williamson on a short-pitch delivery as the batter tried to pull for a maximum.
For his second wicket, the pacer got Jimmy Neesham. Little trapped the Kiwi all-rounder LBW to bring his second consecutive wicket in the over. With two wickets in two balls, Little was on a hat-trick and he had Mitchell Santner to bowl to. Santner, having played for so long at the international level, was expected to keep it away, but he failed.
Santner too was trapped LBW as he hurried against a length ball that hit him right in front of the middle stump. With a World Cup hat trick to his name, Little was flying and no one was stopping him.
Watch the moment here:
With this, Josh Little became the second Irish bowler to take a World Cup hat-trick Curtis Campher had taken a hat-trick at T20 World Cup 2021 against the Netherlands. Overall, Little is the sixth bowler to take a hat-trick at T20 World Cup. He joined the likes of Brett Lee and Kagiso Rabada .
Hat-trick in men's T20 WC:
Brett Lee vs BAN, 2007
Curtis Campher vs NED, 2021
Wanindu Hasaranga vs SA, 2021
Kagiso Rabada vs ENG, 2021
Karthik Meiyappan vs SL, 2022
Joshua Little vs NZ, 2022
Coming to the match, Ireland restricted New Zealand to 185/6 on the back of this stunning performance from Josh Little. Apart from Little, Gareth Delany picked two wickets. For New Zealand, captain Kane Williamson starred with a 35-ball 61. Finn Allen (32 off 18) and Daryl Mitchell (31 off 21) also chipped in.
