Alana King remembers Shane Warne as the leg-spinner scripts history with a memorable performance versus Manchester Originals in The Hundred.
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During the third match of the ongoing The Women’s Hundred 2022 between Manchester Originals and Trent Rockets, at the Old Trafford in Manchester, Rockets’ and Australian leg-spinner Alana King came up with one of the memorable performances in The Hundred competition by a bowler.
The 26-year-old became the first woman cricketer to take a hat-trick in 100-ball tournament, and thereby guide her team to a massive 43-run victory in their first match of the season.
Defending the rather modest total of 119 posted by the Rockets, King got rid of Cordella Griffith, Sophie Ecclestone, and the Originals’ captain Katie Cross in successive deliveries, to achieve the unprecedented.
While she clean bowled Griffith and Cross on her first and the hat-trick delivery, she had Ecclestone’s leg in front of the wicket during the second delivery of the red-letter event.
Alana King remembers Shane Warne
The Aussie leg-spinner remembered the late, legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne post achieving her feat, and hoped that he might have watched her bowl from the heaven above, and felt proud of her history-scripting moment.
“The hat-trick is pretty special. I hope [Shane Warne] is looking down and is pretty proud. That’s my first hat-trick. Not even in juniors did I take one. My first hat-trick at Old Trafford, I couldn’t have written it,” Alana King told Sky Sports.
“Will I get my name up here at Old Trafford? That would be brilliant. Hopefully right next to Warnie. He took poles for fun here,” she further added.
King eventually ended her spell with figures of 20-13-15-4 (balls-dots-runs-wickets), and was fittingly awarded the ‘Player of the Match’, for also playing a handy 9-ball 19 run knock during the first innings to take her team’s total past the 100-run mark.
