Ireland bowler Curtis Campher has accomplished a rare 'double hat-trick' - four wickets in four consecutive deliveries - against the Netherlands to spark a seven-wicket win in their Twenty20 World Cup match at Abu Dhabi.
Campher took 4/26 to run through the middle order, before Mark Adair picked up three wickets to bundle the Dutch out for 106, despite a valiant 51 from NZ-born opener Max O'Dowd.
The target was not enough to test Ireland, who chased it down with almost five overs to spare, after a stroke-filled 44 runs from Gareth Delany.
Bowling his second over, all-rounder Campher had Colin Ackermann caught down the leg side, after umpire Rod Tucker's not-out decision was overturned on review.
Ryan ten Doeschate was trapped leg before wicket, before Ireland again challenged Tucker for an lbw decision against Scott Edwards that made Campher the first Ireland bowler to complete a hat-trick in T20 internationals.
Campher, 22, then watched Roelof van der Merwe drag a seemingly innocuous delivery onto his stumps for his fourth wicket of the afternoon.
Sri Lanka fast bowling great Lasith Malinga and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan are the only other cricketers to take four wickets in consecutive deliveries in T20 internationals.
Sri Lanka, the 2014 champions, must also jostle with the game's minnows in the preliminary rounds and Dasun Shanaka's men also made a comfortable start with a seven-wicket win over Namibia.
Reuters
