Trent Boult created history at Lord’s as he became the first New Zealander to claim a World Cup hat-trick against Australia.
His heroics proved in vain as Australia beat their rivals by 86 runs in Saturday’s group match of the Cricket World Cup at Lord’s to remain top of the points table.
Boult finished with 4-51 but Usman Khawaja (88) and Alex Carey (71) forged a century-plus stand to help Australia post a competitive 243-9.
Khawaja had batted beautifully to reach 88 with four balls of the Australia innings remaining, but as he looked to access the on side, Boult brought his handy knock to an end with a delivery that wrapped the pads and knocked off the bails.
Jason Behrendorff became the last victim when another full delivery had him trapped lbw, and DRS confirmed it had impacted in line after a failed review.
Nathan Lyon then left the gate open, but Boult missed the stumps as he was denied four from four in a majestic final over as the 29-year-old ended with figures of 4 for 51, with New Zealand needing 244 to win at Lord’s.
The left-arm seam bowler claimed just the 11th hat-trick in the history of the World Cup, but the feat has already been achieved at this summer’s tournament.
India quick Mohammed Shami broke Afghanistan hearts with three wickets at the death of their dramatic 11-run win at Southampton.
Chasing 244 for victory, New Zealand were all out for 157 in the 44th over, with skipper Kane Williamson top scoring for them with 40.
Mitchell Starc (5-26) was the pick of the Australian bowlers in a one-sided rematch of the 2015 World Cup final.
World Cup hat-tricks
1987/Chetan Sharma, India vs. New Zealand, Nagpur
1999/Saqlain Mushtaq, Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe, London
2003/Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka vs. Bangladesh, Pietermaritzburg
2003/Brett Lee, Australia vs. Kenya, Durban
2007/Lasith Malinga (4 in 4), Sri Lanka vs. South Africa, Guyana
2011/Kemar Roach, West Indies vs. Netherlands, New Delhi
2011/Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka vs. Kenya, Colombo
2015/Steven Finn, England vs. Australia, Melbourne
2015/JP Duminy, South Africa vs. Sri Lanka, Sydney
2019/Mohammed Shami, India vs. Afghanistan, Southampton
2019/Trent Boult, New Zealand vs. Australia, London.
