Australia's Mitchell Starc sent a warning to all the top order batters in the Cricket World Cup 2023, as he stunned Netherlands with a hat-trick in the warm-up fixture played at Thiruvananthapuram.
Starc, finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker in the 2015 edition in Australia with 22 wickets, and was named the Player-of-the-Tournament. He then ended up being the highest wicket-taker in 2019 in England, picking up 27 wickets.
Starc dismissed Netherlands opener Max O'Dowd for a golden duck, and then dismissed Wesley Barresi and Bas de Leede for first-ball ducks as well to complete the hat-trick. Starc finished his spell with figures of 3/18 off three overs.
WATCH STARC's HAT-TRICK HERE:
Netherlands were tottering at 84/6 in 14.2 overs, chasing the target of 167 in the rain-reduced 23 overs per-side clash when another sharp shower forced the umpires to abandon the game.
For Australia, Steve Smith got valuable batting practice as he scored 55 off 42 balls while opening the innings. Australia will now head to Hyderabad to play Pakistan their final warm-up fixture.
