On This Day — Cork’s memorable hat-trick

Dominic Cork en route his hattrick against the West Indies in 1995

The first over on Day 4 at Old Trafford in 1995 witnessed England’s Dominic Cork securing a hat-trick to rip through the West Indies’ middle-order. His first scalp was West Indies captain Richie Richardson who played a ball onto his stumps. Cork then trapped John Murray and Carl Hooper lbw to complete the first Test hat-trick by an England player since Peter Loader’s feat against the same opposition in 1957.

Cork stuck to his strength of bowling within the stumps with sufficient movement to deceive the batsmen in a series he ended as England’s top wicket-taker and was man of the match in both their victories. He also made some vital contributions with the bat including an unbeaten 56 in the first innings of the same match as his hat-trick.