Two hat-tricks in 8 days, Crokecombe goes down in history, surpassing even the legends

Muttiah Muralitharan, Curtly Ambrose, Allan Donald, Courtney Walsh or Dale Steyn - despite being one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket, they did not get to taste a hat-trick in their professional careers. In that place, English pacer Henry Crocombe has achieved an incredible feat at the age of just 24.

The Sussex pacer took a hat-trick in two consecutive first-class matches in a space of just eight days. Such a feat has been seen only six times in first-class cricket before.

Crocombe completed his hat-trick by taking three wickets in three consecutive balls at the end of the opponent's first innings in the County Championship match against Somerset last week. Then he repeated the same feat against Essex on Thursday.

His bowling against Essex was even more devastating. Essex was all out for just 177 runs from 171 for 3. The team's last seven wickets fell in just 26 balls. Among them, Crocombe took five wickets without conceding a run in just 14 balls.

His bowling analysis in Essex's first innings was 9.5-1-39-5.

However, Crocombe's hat-trick against Somerset came towards the end of the innings. After dismissing Craig Overton with the fourth ball of the 58th over, he completed his hat-trick by dismissing Miguel Pretorius and Jack Leach with the next two balls. Crocombe took 5 wickets for 56 runs in 14 overs in that innings.

This was his third five-wicket haul this season.

According to cricket statistician Andrew Samson, this is the seventh time that a hat-trick has been taken in two consecutive matches in first-class cricket. The first to do so was in 1868 by English pacer George Freeman.

Then Joginder Rao (1963), Mike Proctor (1979), Dean Hadlee (1996), Wasim Akram (1999), Deepak Dhapoola (2024) and now Crocombe have entered this list.

Crocombe's excellent performance has also taken him to the door of the national team. He was called up to the England team on an emergency basis for the second Test against New Zealand last June. However, he has not yet made his debut for England.

According to the news of the British newspaper The Telegraph, the pacer can also find a place in the squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka later this month.

Crocombe, who has played 50 first-class matches, has taken 38 wickets at an average of 23.15 in the current county season so far. After the incredible feat of two hat-tricks in two consecutive matches, his debut in the England jersey now seems to be a matter of time.