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Wasim Akram bowled with venom to record his second hat-trick in successive Test matches. He achieved this feat when he dismissed Avishka Gunawardene, Chaminda Vass and Mahela Jayawardene on his three successive balls in Sri Lanka's second innings in the final of Asian Test championship at Dhaka. On his way to hat-trick, Akram first dismissed Gunawardene in his first over of the second Sri Lankan innings and then broke the off-stump of night watchman Chaminda Vass. The finale came when Wajahatullah Wasti caught Jayasuriya in first slip off the first ball of his second over.

Wasim's feat is the 25th hat-trick in 123 years of Test cricket and he became the 22nd bowler to dismiss three batsman on consecutive balls.

The first-ever hat-trick in Test annals took place over a hundred years ago in January 1879 at Melbourne when Australia's immortal FR Spofforth clean-bowled Vernon Royle and Francis Mackinnon and had Tom Emmett caught off three successive balls to reduce England to a sorry 26 for 7.

However, the most memorable hat-trick performance in Test history was that of Australia's Thomas Matthews against South Africa in the Old Trafford Test in May 1912 when he created in unique record by achieving a hat-trick in each innings of the same Test - and that too on the same day, and without the help of any fielders, clean-bowling two victims, having two more trapped lbw, and catching two off his own bowling.

England's W. Bates was the second bowler to perform this feat. He achieved this feat against Australia at Melbourne in 1882-83 by dismissing P.S. McDonnell, G. Giffen and G.J. Bonnor in the first innings.

In the 1891-92 series against Australia, England's J. Briggs performed the third hat-trick of the Test cricket. He ended Australia's second innings with this hat-trick dismissing W.F. Giffen, S.T. Callaway and J.M. Blackham.

G.A. Lohmann of England recorded the fourth hat-trick in Test cricket against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1895-96. He ended the match on the second day with a hat-trick. F.J. Cook, J. Middleton and J.T. Willoughby were his victims.

The fifth bowler to perform a hat-trick in Test cricket was England's J.H. Hearne. When in Australia's second innings at Leeds in 1899 he dismissed C.Hill, S.E. Gregory and M.A. Noble for 'ducks'.

Australian Hugh Trumble was the first bowler in the 20th century to record the hat-trick in Test cricket. Trumble performed this against England at Melbourne in l9O1-O2 series by dismissing A.O. Jones, J.R. Gunn and S.F. Barnes. On his final appearance against England at Melbourne in l9O3-O4, Trumble performed his second hat-trick dismissing B. Bosanquet, P. Warner and A. Lilley in England's second innings.

The eighth bowler to perform a hat-trick in Test cricket was England's Maurice Allom. Playing in his first Test match against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1929-3O series, he took four wickets in five balls including a hat-trick in his eighth over on his first day of Test cricket. Allom's hat-trick victims were T.C. Lowry, K.C. James and F.T. Badcock.

Englishman T.W.J. Goddard was the ninth bowler to perform a hat-trick. He achieved this feat by dismissing A. Nourse, N. Gordon and W. Wade in South Africa's first innings at Johannesburg in 1938-39 series. It was 11th hat-trick in the history of Test cricket.

In l957 series against West Indies at Leeds, Peter Loader dismissed J.D.C. Goddard, S. Ramadin and R. Gilchrist in the first innings to complete the first hat-trick for England in a home Test since 1899.

Slow left arm unorthodox Lindsay Kline of Australia was the 11th bowler to enter this elite club. He did the hat-trick, dismissing E. Fuller, H. Tayfield and N. Adcock in South Africa's second innings at Cape Town in 1957-58.

The first West Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket was Wesley Hall. Hall dismissed Mushtaq Mohammed, Fazal Mahmood and Nasim ul Ghani in Pakistan's first innings at Bagh-i-Jinnah, Lahore in l958-59 to perform the same.

In 196O series against England at Lord's, G.M. Griffin became the only bowler to take a hat-trick for South Africa when he dismissed M.J.K. Smith with the last ball of one over and P.M. Walker and F.S. Trueman with the first two balls of his next. It was also the first hat-trick in a Test match at Lord's. It was Griffm's final test match of his career. He was later no-balled 11 times by umpire Frank Lee for throwing. Griffen played no further Test cricket.

Lance Gibbs was the second West Indian to achieve a hat-trick in a Test match. Gibbs dismissed R.D. Mackay, A.T.W. Grout and F.M. Misson in Australia's first innings at Adelaide in 1960-61 to perform the 16th hat-trick in Test cricket.

The second bowler to record a hat-trick on his debut was New Zealand's off spinner P.J. Petherick. Petherick dismissed debutante Javed Miandad, Wasim Raja and Intikhab Alam in successive balls in Pakistan's first innings at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore in 1976-77 series.

West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh performed the hat-trick by dismissing Tony Dodemaide to end the Australian first innings and then got rid of Mike Velletta and Graeme Wood with his first two deliveries in the second innings.

The most unusual hat-trick in Test annals took place when Australia's Merv Hughes captured three wickets with three successive deliveries in three different overs spread over more than 24 hours.

On December 3, about 45 minutes before tea on the second day of the Perth Test, Hughes dismissed Curtly Ambrose with the last ball of his 36th over. It was the eighth wicket to fall.

Then after Tim May had Gus Logie caught, the ninth wicket fell, Hughes got rid of Patrick Patterson with the first ball of his 37th over to end the West Indies first innings.

The next day, just a few minutes before 'stumps' when West Indies commenced their second innings, Hughes trapped Gordon Greenidge with his very first ball to complete an amazing and unprecedented Test hat-trick.

The third player to take a hat-trick on debut was Australian Damien Fleming. He achieved this feat by dismissing Aamer Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Salim Malik in Pakistan's second innings at Rawalpindi in 1994-95 series.

Shane Warne was the 19th bowler to perform a hat-trick in Test cricket. Warne achieved this by dismissing Darren Gough, Philip DeFreitas and Devon Malcolm in England's second innings at Melbourne in 1994-95 Ashes series.

After Shane Warne, England's Dominic Cork became the 20th bowler to join this elite club. Bowling from the Stretford End at Manchester, Cork picked off Richie Richardson, Junior Murray and Carl Hooper to become only the eighth England bowler to do the hat-trick, the first since Peter Loader surprised West Indies at Headingley in l952.

The last bowler to take a hat-trick before Wasim Akram was England's Darren Gough. This paceman marked the final Ashes Test of the century with the first hat-trick for England against Australia in this century at Sydney Cricket ground in 1998-99. Gough first dismissed Ian Healy, caught by Hegg, and then clean bowled Stuart MacGill and Colin Miller with lethal yorkers to become the ninth Englishman to get a hat trick in the history of Test cricket. It was 23rd hat-trick at this level of cricket.