Mitchell Starc picks his second hat-trick of the match

Australian quickie Mitchell Starc is gearing up for the upcoming Ashes series against England and is looking in superb form. He has bagged yet another hat-trick in the same match in the ongoing Sheffield Shield season, the domestic tournament of Australia. The speedster has recovered from his injury and is bowling in full tilt now after regaining his fitness. However, he would love to continue in this form until the end of Ashes.

Starc achieved a unique feat against Western Australia at the Hurstville Oval in Sydney and became the first Australian in Sheffield Shield history to take two hat-tricks in the same game. Interestingly, in both the innings, he scalped the last three wickets of the opposition and finished the game. While he snaffled Jason Behrendorff, David Moody and Simon Mackin in the first innings, he dismissed Jonathan Wells instead of Mackin in the second innings to seal the deal for his team.

NSW register huge win

New South Wales (NSW) is currently the strongest team in the tournament as six players of the national team are playing. Moreover, the quartet of Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, the most likely bowling attack for the first Test is performing together. NSW posted 270 in their first innings on the back of a half-century from Steve Smith and then bundled Western Australia (WA) out for just 170 courtesy the hat-trick from Starc.

Then they extended their lead in the second innings, once again thanks to the century from Steve Smith, and declared on 300/6 to set up a target of 395 runs in front of their opposition. WA didn’t pose any threat and crumbled under pressure for just 223 as Starc cleaned up the tail with another hat-trick. Heartening thing for every Australian fan was that all the wickets were taken by the main bowlers who will form the bowling attack at the Gabba.

The form of the bowlers and Smith are the ominous signs for the visiting England side as they struggled in their first tour game last week and leaked runs.

Watch the hat-trick here: