Black Caps vs South Africa: Hat-trick chance for Kiwi debutant Will O’Rourke

New Zealand's Will O’Rourke in action against South Africa. Photo / Photosport

Black Caps bowler Will O’Rourke is on for a dream debut after setting himself up for a hat-trick by taking the last two wickets of South Africa’s first innings in the second test in Hamilton.

If the Kiwi gun takes a wicket with his first ball in the second innings, he will join a rare club: Only three bowlers have taken hat-tricks (when a bowler takes wickets with three consecutive deliveries) playing on their test debut.

Englishman Maurice Allom (Christchurch, 1929), Kiwi Peter Petherick (Lahore, 1976) and Australian Damien Fleming (Rawalpindi, 1994) bagged hat-tricks on debut.

Petherick and James Franklin (Dhaka, 2005) are the only New Zealand men to have test hat-tricks to their name.

At the start of the 92nd over, O’Rourke got the ball to rise up sharply from short of a length at off stump. The batter, Ruan de Swardt, was caught flatfooted and his defensive shot played the ball on to the stumps, dislodging the bails.

It was a key wicket, with de Swardt the lynchpin in South Africa’s recovery having compiled a hard-fought 64.

With his next delivery, the Kiwi debutant beat Dane Paterson for pace. The tailender misjudging the delivery as he swung wildly, sending the ball high into the air behind the stumps where it was gathered in the safe hands of Tom Latham.

It capped a terrific opening performance for the 22-year-old right armer, who finished the innings with four wickets for 59 runs of 18.2 overs. Rachin Ravindra – who dominated with the bat in the first test, scoring 240 runs in the first innings – was the other star bowler, taking three wickets for 33 runs off 21 overs.

South Africa had begun the day on 220/6, and were all out for 242.

O’Rourke could also join another rare hat-trick club; by securing the three wickets across two innings he would have what is known as a “complicated hat-trick”.

Only three test hat-tricks – by Courtney Walsh (Brisbane 1988), Merv Hughes (Perth, 1988) and Jermaine Lawson (Antigua, 2004) – have crossed between two innings of a test.

There have been 46 hat-tricks in men’s tests.