Perth Scorchers stand-in skipper Michael Klinger says he and his team-mates initially didn’t even realise Andrew Tye had taken a hat-trick.
Tye claimed the final two wickets in consecutive balls, having dismissed Jack Wildermuth with the final ball of the 18th over in Perth’s 27-run win over the Brisbane Heat at the Gabba on Wednesday night.
The bowler himself admitted he didn’t realise he had completed a hat-trick until he heard it from the ground announcer moments after the event.
Klinger revealed initially he actually sent Tye back to his mark, with his concerns about the bowling over rate.
“I actually thought we still needed one more wicket and the umpire said we needed to finish within a minute,” Klinger recalled.
“I actually said (to Tye) ‘get back to your mark’ and the batters started walking off.
“No one really knew and then someone mentioned and obviously everyone started getting a bit excited.”
Tye’s hat-trick capped off a successful evening for the Scorchers who returned to top spot with the victory.
Perth only managed 5-156 with the bat, which appeared below par, before bowling out the Heat for 129.
Mitchell Johnson (2-25) took two wickets inside the first three overs to get the Scorchers off to a flyer, before Jhye Richardson (2-34) got the key wicket of Brendon McCullum.
“I thought our bowlers did a fantastic job up front to put them on the back foot with three wickets in the power play and to finish it off at the back end,” Klinger said.
“We’re playing some really good cricket. If you look at our squad, we’ve been decimated.
“You look at guys like Coulter-Nile, Behrendorff and our captain Adam Voges. To still be in a pretty solid position after six games, we’re doing a great job and showing our great depth.”
Klinger was also pleased the Scorchers were able to reverse last Thursday’s result when they lost by nine wickets at #TheFurnace to the Heat.
The result is significant in the context of the season, with the top three sides all two games away from finals.
“Obviously the Heat are a very good team and I’m pretty confident they’ll be up in the finals, so it was very important for us,” Klinger said.
“They had the wood over us five days ago, so we needed to win and I thought it was a great comeback by the boys.”
The Scorchers are next in action on Saturday in front of a sell-out crowd at #TheFurnace on Saturday night from 6.15pm WST.