Finch feat a rarity

A HAT-trick is a rarity in cricket, but four wickets in an over is even greater

In his almost four decades playing cricket, Nursery Ridge bowler Jason Finch said he had never experienced a four-wicket maiden, until last Saturday.

The veteran’s fourth over on the opening day of Ridge’s Second Division contest against Mildura West went dot, wicket, dot, before a hat-trick, to ultimately end their opponent’s innings for 105.

Ridge in response are on 5/81.

“I’d bowled three overs before that but you don’t go into an over when they’re six down thinking that will be the end of the innings,” Finch said of the feat.

“To take four wickets with a hat-trick in the same over … I’ve played cricket for a long time and I’ve never had that happen before.

“I go by the theory that if you just bowl on the stumps and the batter misses, I’ve got a better chance of hitting them or the the pad.

“I’m always having words with the younger boys who want to bowl so many different deliveries in an over. I reckon it’s easier just to bowl on the stumps and let the turf pitch give its natural variation.

“Maybe this has been a win for the older blokes.”

Finch said the return to two-day cricket had been the biggest challenge for the former Red Cliffs Cricket Association side so far.

His feat with the ball wasn’t the only unusual thing that happened at the Onion Patch Oval at Quandong Park.

“About a metre-long brown snake made its way onto the oval,” Finch said.

“It came out of some of the bushes and past a couple of the girls watching. The game stopped for a couple of minutes while we waited for it to go across and find its way into bushes on the other side.

“Another thing I haven’t seen before.”