Former Australian fast bowler Damien Fleming has broken down how he got his first test match, where he would take a hat-trick against Pakistan.
Fleming explained on This is Your Sporting Life for Tobin Brothers, celebrating lives every day, that Glenn McGrath’s injury opened the door for him to make his debut.
“I think on that Pakistan tour I was sort of picked as a swing bowler Terry Alderman type, probably not there for the test matches, more about the tour games, there was a full one-day series,” he said.
“And then Glenn McGrath tore his quad – how good was that?
“How good was that? So Pigeon (McGrath) tears his quad and lucky enough we had a centre wicket and we bowled on a green pitch and I had a Duke ball.
“I remember bowling to Boony (David Boon) and I was knocking him over a couple of times and I reckon it got me in, which was weird because the pitch had no grass on it and we used this ball that didn’t really swing a lot.
“It’s the realisation of a life-long dream to get that baggy green on, it was fantastic.”
Fleming took a hat-trick in the second innings of the match against Pakistan, split across two overs and in a game where the result was already certain, making it one of the stranger hat-tricks in cricketing history.
“When I got the ball eventually, the game was over. There wasn’t a lot of interest and the Aamer Malik wicket was just a half volley on leg stump,” he said.
“And then comes out Inzamam-ul-Haq and he’s a beautiful player, but he wasn’t a great starter, and I tried a yorker first ball and hit him dead in front.
“We appealed, but we’re not thinking about getting an LBW in Pakistan. That’s the other thing that fell into place. The umpire put his finger up. He was the neutral umpire.
“So I’m on a hat-trick, we take drinks, there’s no real interest in this game besides this hat-trick, I don’t want to bowl to Saleem Malik who’s on 237, but the last ball of the over he gets a single and he’s on strike.
“It was funny, I’ve got the ball in my hands, Mark Taylor says ‘what do you want, let’s get a few slips in’ – they’re 4/550-odd.
“I just bowled the ball and unbelievably, outside edge, Ian Healy took the catch and everyone’s celebrating and all that sort of stuff.”
Listen to the full chat with Damien Fleming on This is Your Sporting Life for Tobin Brothers below