Ella Denney took a hat-trick with first three balls of the game for East Belmont, joins Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas in exclusive group

Ella Denney made history on Sunday with East Belmont and joined an international star in an exclusive group in cricket history. Find out what she did here.

Ella Denney took a hat-trick for East Belmont with the first three balls of the game.

EAST Belmont opening bowler Ella Denney has joined an exclusive club with Sri Lanka great Chaminda Vaas after she claimed three consecutive wickets to start a match.

The pace bowler took the hat-trick on Sunday against Ocean Grove, more than 19 years since Vaas enjoyed the same feat for the first and only time in the international cricket against Bangladesh.

Denney finished on career-best figures of 4-4 off three overs and said her preparation ahead of the game might be the reason why she was so successful.

“I don’t know if it’s luck or what it is, but I’ll usually get to the game a bit early to practice my bowling and make sure I’ve got everything right and ready,” she said.

Ella Denney took a hat-trick for East Belmont with the first three balls of the game.

“It’s all just finding the right line and pace and everything, which seems to be coming naturally on that first ball.

“They were all pretty full balls, that’s just what I try to do, I just want to target the stumps.”

“It was the same thing both times, the batter just missed it and it went through them.

“I didn’t change the field, just left it the same because it was working.

“I was pretty stoked to get just one wicket, so to get another two was pretty great.”

Not only has Denney taken a hat-trick on the first three balls of the match, she has also claimed a wicket on the first ball of the last two matches, giving East Belmont the perfect start to the game.

Denney plays in the under-16s team on Sunday mornings, before plying her trade in the women’s B-Grade side in the afternoons.

She said the step up to senior cricket had made her a better player, and she was hoping to help the newer junior players with tips she had picked up.

Ella Denney took a hat-trick for East Belmont with the first three balls of the game.

“In juniors we lost a couple of players, but it’s been good to get a few more of the younger players coming up and getting more confident playing cricket,” she said.

“Playing in the B-Grade for the senior team is pretty awesome, it gives me more time to get better as a cricketer and then I can take some of that back to the juniors.

“We’ve had some of the older A-Grade players dropping down and helping mentor us and give us tips on how to play, which has really helped in making us ready for that next step of our cricket.”

Originally published as Ella Denney took a hat-trick with first three balls of the game for East Belmont, joins Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas in exclusive group