Brody Couch picks up first-ever hat-trick for Western Australia in Sheffield Shield

In what was a historic moment, Western Australia’s Brody Couch became the first-ever bowler in the state’s Sheffield Shield history to pick up a hat-trick. The left-arm pacer achieved the feat on November 4 (Monday) when he removed Jake Doran, Lawrence Neil-Smith and Sam Elliot in the clash against Tasmania.

Couch’s hat-trick ensured that Western Australia won the game convincingly by a margin of an innings and 45 runs. It took them to the top of the table. What’s fascinating is that Couch also became the first bowler to pick a hat-trick in the Sheffield Shield since 2019, which shows how spicy the wickets have been this season. 

Mitchell Swepson, from Queensland, was the last bowler to pick up a hat-trick in Shield cricket. Interestingly, however, four out of the last five hat-tricks in the Shield have been picked by a left-arm pacer (Mitchell Starc, Doug Bolinger and Couch). Couch ended up with figures of 3/15 in his 14 overs. 

Apart from that, what was quite intriguing from the clash was Ashton Agar’s display, with the now-ignored left-arm spinner picking up 3/12 in the second dig, reminding the selectors of his talent. Only a few days ago, Australia’s Chief Selector George Bailey said that the country lacked depth in that department (left-arm spin), and Agar provided a timely reminder. 

"Realistically there's not a huge amount of players in domestic cricket that are doing it, so it is something we are looking to expose," Bailey said.

It would be interesting to see if Agar is considered for Australia’s tour against Sri Lanka in January of next year.

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