Sandhu surprises himself with history making feat

Gurinder Sandhu has become the first man to take three hat-tricks in Australian domestic cricket after a stunning spell delivered the Sydney Thunder back-to-back wins over KFC BBL|11 ladder leaders the Perth Scorchers.

It was Sandhu's second hat-trick of the season after three wickets in three balls for Queensland against South Australia on November 28, which saw him become the first bowler in Australian one-day domestic cricket to snare two hat-tricks.

The right-armer, who originally hails from north-west Sydney, went past Mitchell Starc and Doug Bollinger who each have two Sheffield Shield hat-tricks, while AJ Tye has taken two in the Big Bash.

Four Australians have three or more first-class hat-tricks, but most of those were taken in tour matches outside of Australian domestic competitions.

Fred Spofforth, who was the first bowler to achieve the feat in a Test match in 1879, took four hat-tricks in his career but three were in tour matches in England.

Thomas James Matthews (four first-class hat-tricks) remains the only bowler to achieve the feat twice in the same Test match when he took a hat-trick in each innings against South Africa in 1912, while the other two were in the Sheffield Shield and in a tour match in the United States in 1912.

Legendary off-spinner Hugh Trumble has two Test hat-tricks and a third in a tour match, while South Australian George Giffen achieved the feat three times in tour matches.

Relive all of Sandhu's hat-tricks in his history making feat:

1st hat-trick: One-Day final v Victoria, 2018

The then-Tasmanian quick had a day out against Victoria in the one-day domestic final at the CitiPower Centre, but his 7-56 wasn't enough to get his side over the line to claim the title.

Sandhu took 4-1 in the final over, including the wickets of Matt Short, Fawad Ahmed and Andrew Fekete off the last three balls of the innings to claim his first hat-trick and dismiss Victoria for 274.

"What about that, (it’s a) great feeling," he said on Fox Sports after the innings.

"That was my first one. First five-for as well in a while, so it’s been a pretty good day so far, but it won’t really mean anything if we don’t get the ‘W’.

"That last one, I tried to bowl a yorker to be honest, but it was a bit of a half volley but thankfully it didn't go too far and get hit for a boundary and we got the wicket."

2nd hat-trick: Marsh Cup v South Australia, 2021

His second hat-trick made him the first bowler in Australian one-day domestic cricket to take two hat-tricks, as he dismissed Redbacks batters Thomas Kelly, Nathan McSweeney and Nathan McAndrew in consecutive balls.

"I had no idea about being the only person to take two until I came off and read something that someone sent to me," he told cricket.com.au a few days later.

"It's pretty cool, amazing, things that happen along cricket journeys.

"The boys were happy for me to go for that hat-trick as well. Sometimes, depending on the game situation, you don't want to be too selfish if it can cost you a boundary or six at the same time.

"But all the boys were happy and like 'make sure you try and get this hat-trick'."

Just three days earlier Sandhu took a remarkable 6-57 in the Marsh Sheffield Shield against South Australia as he entered BBL|11 in red-hot form.

3rd hat-trick: BBL|11 v Perth Scorchers, 2022

Sandhu didn't have to wait as long for his next hat-trick, but on this occasion he didn't even realise he'd achieved the rare feat until he came off the ground after the Scorchers had batted.

Colin Munro was the first to fall on the last ball of the 12th over when he struck Sandhu straight to cover.

Then, as Sandhu returned to the attack in the 16th over, Aaron Hardie immediately holed out in the deep, before Laurie Evans skied one high for an easy catch.

"I had absolutely no idea, which is kind of a good thing because then maybe I would have tried too hard on that ball or changed up what I was doing," Sandhu told AAP last night.

"As I walked off, I chatted to Erin Holland from Channel 7 and she said, 'well done, the first Sydney Thunder player to get a hat-trick'.

"I actually thought in my mind that she stuffed up, but I was the one who had it wrong.

"I was surprised, because I had no idea. I've already had one this year, so I was like, 'there's no chance anybody can get two in a year, let alone in a career'.

"It's pretty cool. It's something when I finish playing, I'll look back on and go, 'wow'."

Even his coach and teammates didn't realise what he'd done at the time.

"We didn't know either," coach Trevor Bayliss said on the Fox Cricket broadcast.

"I think in T20 cricket everyone's just concentrating on (conceding) no runs and the game moves pretty quickly, and I think it's happened a few times where that passes the bowlers by."