Top 5 hat-tricks from left-arm bowlers in Tests

#4 James Franklin

James Franklin got his hattrick on a flat wicket at Dhaka

James Franklin led the New Zealand bowling attack along with the likes of Shane Bond in the early 2000s. Though underrated he was quite lethal in seaming conditions. But his hat-trick was on a flat wicket at the Bangabandhu stadium in Dhaka where he ran through the Bangladeshi batting line-up on a fine morning in October 2004.

Bangladesh chose to bat in the first Test of the two-match series and were already tottering at 165/6 when Franklin achieved the rare feat.The left-arm seamer’s first victim was Manjural Islam Rana who was out caught behind. He then got the wicket of Mohammed Rafique before castling Tapash Baisya. Bangladesh never recovered from the jolt and eventually lost the match by 99 runs.

Franklin was a talented bowler but only featured in 31 Tests for the Blackcaps and picked up 82 wickets with a strike rate of 58.1.