In the second match, Cummins once again claimed a hat-trick. This time, he did it in St. Vincent with his last two overs. First, Rashid Khan was caught at long on with the last ball of the 18th over. Then, he removed Karim Janat in the same way before Gulbadin Naib was caught at deep midwicket during Afghanistan’s final push for runs.
Cummins was close to accomplishing four wickets in four balls during this game, but David Warner missed a chance at deep square when Nangeyalia Kharote swung to the leg side. Despite this, Cummins still managed to get three wickets in three overs and become only the second player to take a hat-trick in consecutive international matches, following Wasim Akram who achieved this in consecutive Tests against Sri Lanka in March 1999.
An interesting fact is that Jimmy Matthews had hat-tricks in each innings of a Test match against South Africa in 1912 on the same day. Overall, Cummins’ consecutive hat-tricks added to his impressive bowling record and made him stand out as a top player on the international stage.
