Ireland set world record with quickest hat-trick of wins

Chasing 292 at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe were 183-7 in the one-off Test against Ireland at stumps on the fourth day. Ireland needed only 18.3 overs on the fifth morning to take the remaining three wickets to win by 63 runs. Leading the rout was left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys, whose 6-57 are now the best figures in Test cricket for Ireland.

Ireland played their first Test match in 2018, and had lost each of their first seven Tests, until 2023. However, they followed this by a remarkable hat-trick of wins – by six wickets against Afghanistan at Abu Dhabi, by four wickets against Zimbabwe at Belfast, and now here, at Bulawayo.

The win also made Ireland the quickest team to complete a hat-trick of Test match wins. Ireland required only ten Tests to do this, breaking South Africa’s record of 14 Tests. What makes it remarkable is that they were the last of the 12 teams to play their first Test and win their first win and they turned around a streak of seven defeats to achieve this.

At the flip side are Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, who are yet to win three consecutive Tests. Of the ones that have, New Zealand (68 years, 263 Tests) took the longest to complete a hat-trick of wins.

Fewest men’s Tests needed to complete a hat-trick of wins

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