‘Deep heat’s a good thing’: Central Coast cricketer Kobe Allison pulls quad, takes hat-trick

Unable to run and bowling off two steps, one Central Coast cricketer pulled off a truly remarkable feat to turn the match on its head for his team.

Kobe Allison put in a remarkable performance for The Entrance. Picture: supplied

The Entrance’s Kobe Allison was staring down the barrel of a tough day out.

After tweaking his quad in his first over of bowling – in what was the first round of the Central Coast first grade competition – the all-rounder was resigned to spending the rest of the day in the field.

Trying to avoid moving too much, he watched on as opponents Kincumber Avoca hit the ball to all parts of the ground to move past 200 at relative ease with the loss of only four wickets.

However with batting pair Christopher Robertson and Cameron Paterson zeroing in on a 100-run partnership and the Seagulls’ bowlers struggling for ideas, Allison limped over to the sidelines and turned to a trusty old remedy as he prepared to take the ball again in a desperate attempt to make a breakthrough.

“I did my quad in the first over I bowled so I stopped, wasn’t gonna bowl for the rest of the day and ended up putting some deep heat on my legs and just bowled off two steps,” he said. “It was quite funny.”

Allison claimed a remarkable hat-trick after earlier pulling injuring his quad. Picture: supplied

Funny is certainly one way to put it. Although the Kincumber Avoca batters certainly weren’t laughing as Allison took a remarkable hat-trick in his second over back to leave the griffins reeling.

“The first one was probably a bit too quick for him. It hit him on the back pad and then the stumps. The next one he left and it hit the top of off,” said Allison.

After knocking over Robertson for 69 and Ethan Short for a golden duck, Allison lined up at the top of his two-step mark in search of his first ever hat-trick as Thomas Noble took guard at the other end.

“The ball hit him on the toe right on middle stump – it was pretty out,” said Allison.

“I don’t think I’ve ever even been on (a hat-trick) before, to be honest. I didn’t know how to feel. It was all too quick for me to get my head around what was going on.

“I’m pretty standard to bowl a few down leg side so I thought this one would be halfway down leg. I’ve never bowled an inswinger ball in my life but it just tailed in and hit him on the toe in front of middle stump. I thought, ‘I’ll take that.’”

He added: “There’d have to be some sort of god because I don’t ever bowl inswingers.”

And while Allison and his teammates went up immediately, the umpire seemingly added to the tension by well and truly contemplating his decision before raising the finger.

“It took him five or six seconds before he gave it out, but I think he was just testing me out. I’ve known him for a while so I think he was just trying to play with me a bit,” laughed Allison.

“I was like, ‘Come on, that’s got to be out. That’s absolutely up guts,’” he added.

“The guy reckons he hit it, he had a dummy spit and hit a chair.”

With the wicket given, the Seagulls exploded into hearty celebrations, so much so that the 24-year-old temporarily forgot about his injury.

“There were definitely some big celebrations that I usually wouldn’t be doing. I was pretty pumped,” he said.

“I think the quad was pretty good when I got the hat-trick, I didn’t really feel it,” the all-rounder laughed, paying tribute to one of the favourite products of grade cricketers the world over.

“When I first did it I thought I was done for a few weeks, I could hardly walk. Deep heat’s a good thing, I couldn’t feel it for a while.”

And while he was still hobbling around the field, Allison – who normally bowls at a decent click from a long run-up – said that injury proved to be a blessing in disguise.

“Sometimes off my long run I’m a bit all over the shop and it comes out a bit too quick. But off the short run, just two steps, it was nice and straight but still quick enough, so it got through,” he said.

“Off two steps they’re probably not expecting them to come down that quick. I think it definitely was a surprise for them, they weren’t expecting it at all. I know I definitely didn’t think that was going to happen when I came on to bowl with one leg.”

Allison wasn’t done there, claiming another two wickets a couple of overs later to finish with the remarkable figures of 5-22 from seven overs.

It triggered an almighty collapse that saw Kincumber Avoca lose 6-15 to be bowled out for 226.

“It was definitely needed, it was a good time to get wickets,” he said. “They were 4-200 and looking like getting 400 at one point.”

In response, The Entrance finished the day at 4-169, with Allison remarkably heading back out to the middle to be unbeaten on nine at stumps. He joined teammate Simon Keen, who showed no mercy for his dodgy quad.

“Keeno hit me for a quick single with the first run, so he tested it out, for sure. I reckon I almost snapped it in half,” said Allison.

And after putting in an innings-turning performance with the ball, he’ll be hoping to finish the job with the bat this weekend.

“It’s still pretty stiff. I think it was just real tight, first game bowling,” said Allison. “It ended up being both quads, so I’ve just been resting up, a few ice baths, a few saunas – trying to get them back and ready for Saturday.”