Joe Denly smashes hundred, takes hat-trick

Denly, who played the last of his 14 internationals for England back in 2010, became the first man to make a hundred and then take a hat-trick in a T20 match. His heroics helped his side Kent Spitfires beat Surrey by six runs on Friday, 6 July.

His 102 took 63 balls, lifting Kent to a total of 173/6 at The Oval. Then, with Surrey on course in the chase at 135/3 in the 13th over, he came on to bowl his part-time leg-spin and struck.

“The Oval is always a decent place to bat, but the outfield was slower than normal and Surrey made scoring boundaries tough by mixing up their pace a bit,” he said after the game.

“I thought at halfway we were 10-15 runs short and that it might take a special bowling performance to win it – although I didn’t expect it would be me!

“I may have taken a hat-trick in the garden before but not out in the middle and if I’m honest it was a naughty hat-trick ball, caught down the leg side, but I’ll take it because it got us back in the game.”

Elsewhere, Christian, the Australia all-rounder came in at No.6 and smashed the second-fastest century in England's domestic T20 competition and the joint seventh-fastest in all T20s.

His hundred came off 37 balls, and was only behind Andrew Symonds' 34-ball ton for Kent in 2004.

He finished on 133* from 40 deliveries, which included nine sixes and seven fours. He made 113 of the 137 runs his side posted in the last 10 overs.

It helped Nottinghamshire Outlaws post 219/6 and beat Northamptonshire Steelbacks by 58 runs.