Pakistan quick bowler Wahab Riaz described taking a hat-trick on his home debut for the Kent Spitfires as “a dream come true”.
Kent’s overseas signing put in a first-class display of left-arm fast bowling to help swing the game in the Spitfires’ favour as they cantered to an eight-wicket victory against the Gloucestershire Gladiators in last night’s thrilling Friends Life t20 game at Beckenham.
It was then left to his compatriot Azhar Mahmood to hit a thrilling unbeaten 106 from just 57 balls to steer Kent to their second win of the competition.
Riaz, 25, who almost created history by taking another hat-trick in his final over only to be thwarted by Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan, went on to claim 5 for 17 – Kent’s best Twenty20 bowling figures.
“Obviously it is a good feeling and is like a dream come true for me,” Riaz said. “Every bowler always dreams about getting a hat-trick and I’ve now been able to get that, so thank God. It was my first hat-trick, I’ve been close once or twice before but never managed to do it.
“I’ve bowled as well as that in the past but not always with the same reward, so I’m happy I’ve done well for Kent.”
Yet there was no sign of what was to come when his first over went for 13. Skipper Rob Key had seen enough and decided against giving Riaz his full allocation of four overs, but crucially did bring him on at the death.
Still struggling with his run up into the wind, the Lahore-born paceman soon settled into a rhythm to devastating effect. His first victim was Chris Taylor, bowled trying to work the ball to leg while next man Ed Young could only manage to get a slither of a nick through to Geraint Jones. Riaz then produced a moment of magic to clip Richard Coughtrie’s off-stump and complete Kent’s first hat-trick in Twenty20 since Ryan McLaren’s memorable three-wicket haul in the Twenty20 Cup win in 2007.
“I was struggling at the start because the wind was blowing too fast which was causing a difficulty and I’m not really used to those sorts of conditions. It did irritate me, but I was always confident of coming back and getting wickets after that first over.
“I tried to get an away swinger going from around the wicket for the hat-trick ball because I knew the batter would be expecting it to come into him as it’s the natural angle. So I was just trying to angle it towards leg stump and I was able to do that.”
Riaz helped the Spitfires bowl Gloucestershire out for 166 before Mahmood and Joe Denly (50) set a Kent Twenty20 record partnership of 135 to win with seven balls to spare.
After the game Riaz confirmed that he would be playing in the 18-day Sri Lanka Premier League at the end of July before returning to Kent until he leaves for Pakistan’s tour of Zimbabwe on August 20
