Day 5 of the 2nd Test at the MCG, an Australian victory assured with England 6/91 chasing 388, on comes the wicketless Shane Keith Warne for his 13th over, and with his last 3 balls of the match:

Phil DeFreitas plumb LBW for a 4-ball duck

Darren Gough caught behind by Ian Healy first ball

And with the hat-trick ball, Devon Malcolm caught at short leg by a blinding one-hander from the Keg on Legs, David Boon, on what was Boony’s 34th birthday.

How the hell did Boony hold on to that… It was like the last can of VB on a flight to London.

Tony Greig commentated that hat-trick Channel 9, and by sheer coincidence, today (December 29) marks 10 years since Greigy died due to cardiac arrest aged 66, having already been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Fun fact – Of the 46 Test cricket hat-tricks, 5 have occurred at the MCG, the most of any Test match venue…

Although the other fun fact about those 5 MCG Test hat-tricks is that Warnie’s hat-trick is the only Test hat-trick at the MCG since 1905.

Of course, let’s choose to forget what Warnie did on the hat-trick ball 5 years later, when Damien Fleming had a chance to take a second career Test hat-trick against India at the Adelaide Oval…