CricPulse
A hat-trick is three wickets in three balls by the same bowler, and almost everybody agrees on that. The disagreements come from everything around it: whether a run out counts, what a wide in the middle does, whether the last ball of one over and the first two of the next qualify, and what to write in the club record when somebody swears they took one. This guide settles each of those and shows how to verify a hat-trick from the scorebook rather than from memory.
What Counts as a Hat-Trick
A hat-trick is when one bowler takes three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. The three deliveries are the bowler’s own consecutive deliveries in the match. They do not need to be in a single over. If a bowler finishes an over with two wickets, another bowler delivers the next over from the opposite end, and the first bowler then bowls and takes a wicket with their next ball, that is a hat-trick, because those are the bowler’s three consecutive deliveries.
The name is traditionally traced to 1858, when a bowler was reportedly rewarded with a hat by his club for taking three wickets in three balls. The detail is part of cricket folklore more than record, so treat the story as colour rather than fact.
Which Dismissals Count
Only wickets credited to the bowler count. Five dismissals are credited to the bowler: bowled, caught, lbw, stumped and hit wicket. Everything else is not credited to the bowler, so it cannot be part of a hat-trick.
| Dismissal | Credited to bowler? | Counts towards a hat-trick? |
|---|---|---|
| Bowled | Yes | Yes |
| Caught (including caught and bowled) | Yes | Yes |
| LBW | Yes | Yes |
| Stumped | Yes | Yes |
| Hit wicket | Yes | Yes |
| Run out (including a non-striker run out) | No | No, and it breaks the sequence |
| Obstructing the field, handled the ball, hit the ball twice, timed out | No | No. See the rarer dismissals |
| Retired out or retired hurt | No | No. See retired hurt vs retired out |
Wides and No-Balls
A wide or a no-ball is not a legal delivery, which is why it is re-bowled and why it does not count as a ball in the over. The usual convention applies the same logic to hat-tricks: a wide or no-ball between two wickets is not one of the three deliveries and does not break the sequence. The bowler’s next legal delivery carries on the count. A batter cannot be bowled, caught or lbw off a no-ball in the first place, so in practice the question is mostly about wides. If a hat-trick is going to decide a club prize or a record, check your competition’s wording, because this is a convention rather than a headline Law. See our guide to cricket extras for why a wide is not a legal ball.
Overs, Innings and Matches
- Across overs: yes. A wicket with the last ball of one over and the first two of the bowler’s next over is a hat-trick, even if another bowler delivers an over in between.
- Across innings: yes. A bowler can finish the first innings with a wicket and start the second with two more. It is a hat-trick, even though the second and third victims are batting in a different innings.
- Across matches: no. It must be within the same match.
Worked Example
Here is a bowler’s delivery-by-delivery record. W marks a bowler-credited wicket, “wd” a wide, and the number is runs off the bat.
| Over | Bowler’s deliveries | Hat-trick? |
|---|---|---|
| Over 17 | 0, 1, 0, 0, W, W | Two in a row. Streak = 2 |
| Over 18 | Another bowler delivers it | Streak is still 2, because the sequence is the first bowler’s own deliveries |
| Over 19 | wd, W | Hat-trick. The wide is ignored, the next legal ball is a wicket |
If the delivery in over 19 had been a run out instead of a bowled, the streak would have ended at two and the scorecard would show the bowler’s two wickets in over 17 and nothing more.
Double Hat-Trick and Other Informal Terms
The Laws do not mention a “double hat-trick”, so the term is informal. People use it for four wickets in four balls, which contains two overlapping hat-tricks, and sometimes for two separate hat-tricks in one match. If you write one into a club record or a trophy engraving, describe exactly what happened, for example “four wickets in four balls”, rather than relying on a term that people read differently.
How a Scorer Confirms a Hat-Trick
Hat-tricks are exactly the kind of event that gets remembered wrongly, because it is celebrated loudly and the details blur by the time the scorebook is being filled in. A reliable check from the ball-by-ball record:
- Isolate the bowler’s deliveries in order, ignoring other bowlers’ overs.
- Remove wides and no-balls.
- Look for three consecutive entries that are each a bowled, caught, lbw, stumped or hit wicket.
- If one of the three was a run out, there is no hat-trick on that sequence.
If you score on paper, that check is a minute with the bowler’s column. If you score in an app, it should be automatic. The over-by-over convention is also why a bowler’s figures matter for economy rate: the same legal ball count that defines an over also defines a hat-trick.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a hat-trick in cricket?
A hat-trick is when a single bowler takes three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. They do not have to be in the same over. An over bowled by someone else from the other end can sit between them, provided they are the bowler’s own consecutive deliveries in the same match.
Does a run out count towards a hat-trick?
No. Only dismissals credited to the bowler count: bowled, caught, lbw, stumped and hit wicket. A run out is not credited to the bowler, so it does not count as one of the three wickets and it breaks the sequence.
Does a wide or no-ball break a hat-trick?
By the usual convention, no. A wide or no-ball is not a legal delivery, so it is neither one of the three deliveries nor a break in the sequence. The next legal delivery continues the count. Competitions can differ, so check the playing conditions if it matters.
Can a hat-trick span two overs or two innings?
Yes to both. It can cross from the end of one over into the start of the bowler’s next over, and from the end of one innings into the start of the next. It cannot cross from one match to another.
What is the difference between a hat-trick and a double hat-trick?
A hat-trick is three wickets in three consecutive deliveries by one bowler. Double hat-trick is an informal term, usually meaning four wickets in four balls or two hat-tricks in one match. In a club record, say exactly what happened.
Does a batter dismissed obstructing the field or timed out count in a hat-trick?
No. Those dismissals are not credited to the bowler, so they do not count and they break the sequence.
How does a scorer confirm a hat-trick?
Read the bowler’s consecutive legal deliveries and check that three in a row ended in a bowler-credited wicket. Ignore wides, no-balls and other bowlers’ overs.
How CricPulse Fits In
Want to record this automatically during your next match? Score your match with CricPulse. It keeps a ball-by-ball record, and after the match it checks each bowler’s legal deliveries for three consecutive bowler-credited wickets, ignoring wides and no-balls and treating a run out as a break, so a hat-trick shows up as a badge on the player’s profile rather than as a half-remembered story. For the rest of the scorebook, see how to score a cricket match and the guide to reading a scorecard.