Sheffield Shield: Western Australia’s Brody Couch takes stunning hat-trick against Tasmania in Hobart

West Australian quick Brody Couch has taken the first-ever hat-trick for the State in a Sheffield Shield match and rattled through Tasmania in an innings victory. The three-time reigning Sheffield Shield champions needed four wickets in the final session to beat the Tigers for the second time in as many matches. Couch took three of them in the first over after the break, powering his new side to a victory by an innings and 45 runs, which leaves them on top of the table and unbeaten after three matches. He took 3-15 from 14 overs as the Tigers target a draw on the final day. Joel Paris and Cam Gannon took two wickets each. “It blows me away, it’s hard to believe really,” Couch told The West Australian. He had Jake Doran trapped in front lbw, then Lawrence Neil-Smith guided a ball onto his own stumps. On a hat-trick and with fielders crowding the bat of Kieran Elliott, couched delivered an almost unplayable ball that clipped the off-stump. “I was just trying to emulate that ball before, just try and hit the stumps and bowl as fast as I could and see if I could get a reaction off the wicket,” he said. “The ball was reversing a bit off the wicket as well, so that always helps. You always need a little bit of luck.” It comes in just his fourth first-class match and third for WA after signing from Victoria in the off-season. The three wickets left Tasmania 9-89 and Ashton Agar took the final scalp — his third of the innings — to seal the win Hilton Cartwright was named the player-of-the-match for his first-innings marathon worth 153. Couch, who played just one match for Victoria, is rapidly emerging as one of the best domestic signings of the season. In an interview with The West Australian in pre-season, he said he just wanted to play well for club side Scarborough and stake his claim for a spot. Now he is rapidly emerging as the best domestic signing of the summer after spending last year remodelling his action and adding another 5km/h of speed. “I came in with no expectations, it was a bit of a free-hit really in my mind. As I said to you before I just wanted to earn respect and work really hard and earn an opportunity if it came about,” Couch said. “Just to be a part of the first few games and even just to be over here and a part of this squad is really special and it means a lot.” WA took two late wickets in the shadows of stumps on day three to set the table for their looming victory. Former West Aussie Brad Hope was a part of a sixth-wicket partnership with Jake Doran that kept their innings from falling in a heap. His wicket in the middle session opened the door for WA to turn the screws on the tail. Seamer Matt Kelly did not bowl in the second innings after straining his quad on day two. It is another injury blow for WA after captain Sam Whiteman was pulled out the day before the match with a side strain. Agar, who was playing first-class cricket for the first time in almost two years, bowled nightwatchman Gabe Bell and had Tigers captain Jordan Silk trapped in front in a meticulous first spell of the day.