David Willey has dismissed several high-profile names throughout the course of his England career, but few remember that he once snared a hat-trick against his own teammates while playing against the England T20I side.
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Ahead of the 2016 T20 World Cup, some teams faced domestic Indian sides in warm-up matches. One such game was between an Eoin Morgan-led England and a Mumbai Cricket Association XI. The Mumbai team, consisting of all uncapped players, was lent some experience when four England players – James Vince, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid and David Willey – turned up in their XI against Morgan’s side.
The match, held at the Brabourne Stadium, was played in the spirit of a warm-up, with no coin toss and England deciding to bat first. Willey opened the bowling with future India international Shardul Thakur.
The England side managed 177, with Joe Root, who went on to have a great tournament, top-scoring with 48. However, it was the final three balls of the innings that generated some buzz, with David Willey claiming a hat-trick by dismissing Root, Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan.
He claimed his first wicket when Root holed out to wide long-on, and made it two-in-two by bouncing out Moeen. It turned into a hat-trick when Jordan spliced the following delivery to deep cover, generating a cheer among the handful of people present at the ground.
The Mumbai side put on a good fight, but still fell short by 14 runs. Incidentally, Willey ended up playing six games for England in the World Cup, ending up as their highest wicket-taker with 10 wickets @ 15.90.
You can watch the hat-trick here.
Willey has recently won a recall to England’s T20I set-up, with the 2016 runners-up one of the favourites for the 2021 T20 World Cup according to a top sportsbook.
