Keshav Maharaj creates history for South Africa after 61 years with hat-trick in St Lucia Test vs West Indies

Keshav Maharaj became only the second South African bowler after Geoff Griffin to take a hat-trick in Tests after he achieved the feat against West Indies in St Lucia.

Keshav Maharaj became the second South Africa bowler after Geoff Griffin to take a hat-trick in Tests. (Image credit: Cricket South Africa Twitter)
By Siddharth vishwanathan | Jun 22, 2021 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Keshav Maharaj created history for South Africa on day 4 of the second Test against the West Indies in St Lucia. After South Africa notched up 298 in the first innings with Quinton de Kock scoring 96 and Dean Elgar hammering 77, West Indies were bowled out for 149 with Wiaan Mulder taking 3/1. Rassie van der Dussen scored 75 in the second innings with South Africa been restricted to 174 as Kemar Roach took 4/52.

Chasing 324 for a win, West Indies made a positive start with Kieran Powell scoring 51. At 107/3, West Indies were in the game. But, Keshav Maharaj changed the entire complexion of the game. He dismissed Powell when the batsman holed out to deep midwicket. Maharaj got the massive wicket of skipper Jason Holder for 0. Maharaj took the hat-trick when Joshua Da Silva glanced a flighted ball to leg slip only for Wiaan Mulder to take a great catch.

Keshav Maharaj ended with figures of 5/36 as South Africa won the match by 158 runs and swept the Tests 2-0.

History for Keshav Maharaj

Keshav Maharaj became the second South African bowler after Geoff Griffin to take a hat-trick in Tests. Griffin took the hat-trick during the Lord’s Test against South Africa. In that match in 1960, Mike Smith, Peter Walker and Fred Trueman was dismissed. However, Griffin’s career was plagued by allegations of chucking.

After the match, Maharaj outlined how he had taken the wickets. “I think Powell was looking to come after me. The second one I bowled what I have been bowling throughout and it, fortunately, got the inside edge. And then the hat-trick, I had so many things going on in my head as to where to bowl the ball. I just bowled normally and Joshua followed it down leg. Great catch down the leg-side. I decided to do a slide. I was too excited to think anything. He (QDK) has an amazing set of hands and he has taken some amazing catches of the seamers throughout the series. Dean invests a lot of faith in spin as well. We are waiting for Dean to come and we will shower him with the choice of his beverage,” Maharaj said.

South Africa boosted by Keshav Maharaj performance

In 36 Tests, Keshav Maharaj has picked up 129 wickets with his best haul being 9/129. Overall, he has seven five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul. South Africa skipper Dean Elgar also heaped praise on Maharaj.

“I have a talented bunch, have a great management team as well. The boys stood up. For the guys to respond like that was brilliant. I want to commend the batsmen for applying and our bowlers were brilliant. It was great to see KG do what KG does. Great to see Keshav get a fifer. KG is world-class, he’s going to be world-class for years to come. He wants to win,” Maharaj said.

The West Indies vs South Africa series will now shift to the five-match Twenty20 International series. The Twenty20 Internationals will be played at Grenada from June 26 and will end on July 3.





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