Cricketer's historic hat-trick fires RC Challengers to victory
It was an exciting day for the RC Challengers, coached by Andre Ellapen.
Three wickets in the first three balls of an innings is not something Zibu Malamba will ever forget.
Not many in the history of cricket have done that, but we will get to that, and some remarkable facets a bit later.
The left-arm quick wrecked the Chatsworth Sporting top-order in the final of the U13 CMCA Elixirlab cricket tournament to help his team, RC Challengers, win by 33 runs.
RC Challengers batted first and made 146-6 in 20 overs.
Declyn Cilliers top-scored with 32 off 19 balls, ably assisted by Saien Chetty, who made 25 off 36 balls.
Others to make double figures were Matt Graham-Jolly, with a vital 18 not out off 23 balls at the end, Shaden Ellapen with 15 off 22 balls, and Haffiya Ebrahim with 14 off 11 balls.
For Chatsworth, wicket-takers were Asanda Mkhize 2-22 (4), Sahiin Ramlakan 1-3 (1), Yuvaan Singh 1-4 (1), Aaryan Pillay 1-14 (2), Jayden Jansen van Vuuren 1-31 (3).
In reply, Chatsworth Sporting could only manage 113-9 in 20 overs, thanks to Zibu’s sensational first over.
He had Shreyan Govender caught behind by Jesse Langton off the first ball.
Aaryan Pillay was bowled first ball, as was Jayden Jansen van Vuuren.
Aaryan Sinath, who watched all this from the non-striker’s end, played beautifully for 61 off 61 balls.
No one else was able to make double figures with Pranav Premrajh 8 (13) next best.
Zibu ended with figures of 3-12 (2).
Only one player has taken a hat-trick off the first three balls of an international match, that being Chaminda Vaas, who did it for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh in the Cricket World Cup held in South Africa in 2003.
And he bowls left arm pace, with serious swing, just like Zibu does now.
Others to take wickets were Saien Chetty 1-4 (2), Ezra Langton 1-4 (2), Ross Downham 1-12 (2), Declyn Cilliers 1-12 (2), Travis Eva 1-13 (2) and Alwande Ntombela 1-15 (2).
Over the duration of the tournament, most runs were scored by Declyn Cilliers (184), most wickets taken by Zibu Malamba (10), most catches Ross Downham (4) and most stumpings Jesse Langton (3).
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