Ireland fast bowler Josh Little becomes the sixth man in T20 World Cup history to claim a hat-trick and the second at this year's tournament after UAE's Karthik Meiyappan; Little dismisses New Zealand's Kane Williamson, Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner
Friday 4 November 2022 10:47, UK
Fast bowler Josh Little picked up Ireland's second hat-trick in T20 internationals when he grabbed a trio of New Zealand wickets at the T20 World Cup.
Left-armer Little had Kane Williamson caught at deep backward square leg for 61 at Adelaide Oval on Friday, before pinning Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner lbw for ducks.
Ireland are the first side to register two hat-tricks at the Men's T20 World Cup, with Little's effort following Curtis Campher's hat-trick against Netherlands during last year's tournament in the UAE.
Little is also the second man to take a hat-trick at this T20 World Cup, after UAE's Karthik Meiyappan, who achieved the feat against Sri Lanka last month.
Ireland went on to lose to New Zealand by 35 runs as they could only reply to the Black Caps' total of 185-6 with a score of 150-9.
Andrew Balbirnie's Ireland had thrashed West Indies last month to make the Super 12 stage and then earned a famous victory over England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
They finished their Group 1 campaign with three points from five games after also losing to Sri Lanka and Australia and seeing their match with Afghanistan washed out.
"There's a couple of moments in the last [few] games where you thought what if, but at the same time, we're still a bit away from these top teams," said Balbirnie.
"We need to keep improving and playing regular cricket against them so we can improve and expand our squad as much as we can. We have guys who are ready to come in whenever they get the opportunity.
"At the start of the tournament, I said getting to the Super 12s would be a bonus. It will be deemed successful. We've played some pretty good cricket and it's just a shame that we couldn't create something really special.
"We're by no means the finished article but we certainly are a better team than we were 12 months ago and that's all you can ask. Hopefully in a month's time, we'll be even better than we are now."
Watch the T20 World Cup live on Sky Sports Cricket between now and the final on November 13.
