SHAW’S HAT TRICK OF HAT TRICKS
‘Emperor’ claimed yet another ‘first’
Alfred Shaw – dubbed the ‘Emperor of Bowlers’ by 19th Century contemporaries – has a number of important cricketing ‘firsts’ to his name:
Shaw bowled the first ball in Test cricket (1877 at Melbourne);
Shaw bowled the first ball against a touring Australian team (1878 for Notts at Trent Bridge)
Shaw led, with Arthur Shrewsbury, the first rugby tour of Australian and New Zealand (1888)
And 150 years ago today – 11 August 1875 – he took Nottinghamshire’s first Hat-Trick… and followed that up, nine years later, by taking the next two!
That first hat-trick would have given Alfred particular pleasure as the last three wickets of Derbyshire’s second innings were each clean bowled; in his ‘Reminiscences’, Shaw spoke disparagingly about the tendency of bowlers to bowl for catches rather than to hit the wicket (what would modern opening bowlers make of that!).
Thus, bowling George Hay, William Mycroft and George Bradley with successive deliveries would have seemed entirely appropriate.
Mind you, Shaw also railed against the idea of white sightscreens, feeling they gave the batter a distinct advantage!
The third victim of that hat-trick deserves special sympathy – Bradley made his first and last appearance in that game at Derby’s County Ground, scored 1 and 0, took no wickets and held no catches. Indeed, his only notable ‘achievement’ was to give Alfred the third wicket.
Shaw finished that innings with 8-25 and took twelve wickets in the match.
No other Notts bowler took a hat-trick until Shaw did it again – and once in each innings – against Gloucestershire at Trent Bridge, in August 1884.
He almost matched his Derbyshire figures, taking 8-29 in the first innings and 6-36 in the second. His victims in the first innings were, successively, Frank Townsend, John Painter and Herbert Page; Townsend was caught (by Billy Barnes) but the second and third wickets were, yet again, clean bowled.
When Gloucester batted again, Townsend and Painter were once more two-thirds of a Shaw hat-trick but on this occasion preceded by William Pullen. Townsend again thwarted a full set of clean bowled victims, being stumped by Mordecai Sherwin.
Harold Butler, in the 1930s, is the only other Notts bowler to have taken three hat-tricks.
The most recent First-Class hat-trick for the County was by Jake Ball against Middlesex in 2016, getting Sam Robson caught by Steven Mullaney and then having Ollie Rayner and Nick Compton LBW.
There have, of course, been List-A and T20 hat-tricks, including Farhan Ahmed becoming the youngest Notts bowler to achieve this feat with his three T20 wickets to round off the 2025 Notts campaign with a victory over Lancashire just a few weeks ago.
The first hat-trick in any Nottinghamshire match was made by James Dean of Sussex, playing for England against Notts at Lord’s in 1853 – more than twenty years before Shaw – when he bowled George Parr, Butler Parr and Charley Brown with successive deliveries in Notts second innings.
Shaw, though, stands firm as the first hat-trick bowler for Nottinghamshire and that is not the only anniversary for him this year.
One hundred years ago, on 31 May 1925, a memorial was raised in the cemetery at All Hallows, Gedling in his name. The inscription states...‘A world famous cricketer who Captained Nottinghamshire the Players and England. Erected by the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in memory of his personal qualities and achievements.’
Alfred Shaw, born in Burton Joyce on 29 August 1842, died at Gedling on 16 January 1907.
There are more stories to tell about the ‘Emperor’ and we will return to his long life and career at a future date.
August 2025