Billy Bates' Hat-Trick — First English Test Hat-Trick, 1883

Bates, a Sheffield-born off-spinner, had toured Australia with three previous English sides. He was known as 'The Duke' — partly for his clothes, partly because his on-field manner was unusually serene for a Yorkshire pro. By the 1882-83 tour he was a senior member of Bligh's side.

Australia had won the first Test by 9 wickets at Melbourne. Bligh's men needed a result. Bates dismissed Australia for 132 in their first innings with 6/68 — already his best Test return.

Bates was an off-break bowler with a quick arm and a flat trajectory — a true Yorkshire pro of his era, not a flighter. He had taken 6/68 in the first innings to bowl Australia out for 132. England replied with 294, a lead of 162.

In the second innings Bates settled into a long spell from the southern end. He had Percy McDonnell caught by WG (a substitute fielder, since this was Bligh's privately-raised side), then bowled the all-rounder George Giffen for a duck, and then trapped Bonnor — Australia's six-foot-six giant — leg before with the next ball. Three Australian wickets in three balls.

He finished with 7/74 in the second innings and match figures of 14/102. England won by an innings and 27 runs. The match was also the first Test won by Bligh's tour and the start of the comeback that would take the official series to 2-1.

Bates also made 55 with the bat, becoming the first bowler in Test history to take ten wickets and score a half-century in the same match. The Australian press, which had largely written off Bligh's side after the first-Test defeat, gave him column inches usually reserved for Spofforth.

“He died in 1900, the family couldn't afford to put up a gravestone, and he's been forgotten.”

“His 14 wickets then the best-ever by a Test match bowler.”

England won the third Test at Sydney to take the official series 2-1. Bates was the leading bowler of the tour. He continued to play for Yorkshire and England through the 1880s.

In the nets at Melbourne during the 1887-88 tour Bates was struck in the eye by a ball from a teammate. The injury ended his Test career. He attempted suicide on the voyage home and never fully recovered. He died in 1900, aged 44, in his native Sheffield.