IRELAND’S Curtis Campher claimed four wickets in four balls against Holland as his side secured their place in the Twenty20 World Cup — and later hit the winning run to top off an excellent Ireland performance in Abu Dhabi.

Campher’s feat means he is just the third player to achieve the feat in T20 internationals, alongside Rashid Khan and Lasith Malinga.

The wickets all fell in a single over as Holland fell from 51 for two to 51 for six in the first-round match. Victims included county cricketers Ryan Ten Doeschate and Roelof Van De Merwe.

The hat-trick ball, the wicket of Scott Edwards, had to be reviewed after given not out by the on-field umpire, but it handed Campher his hat-trick. Van Der Merwe followed soon after, dragging the ball on to his stumps, to complete four in four for the 22-year-old Johannesburg-born Campher.

He finished with four for 26 as Holland were bowled out for 106, opener Max O’Dowd providing the only resistance of note with 51, a total that Ireland were able to knock off for the loss of just three wickets.

Campher admitted that he did not think his bowling had been going too well before the wickets started to tumble.

“To be honest I wasn’t feeling great out there with the ball, and then a couple of guys have just said: ‘Crack it down the wicket here,’ and thankfully I was able to do that,” he told Sky Sports.

On the pitch conditions, he said: “[It was] a little bit slow. Of course in the UAE it’s always going to be like that, so it was just nice to come off here.

And on Andy Balbirnie’s captaincy, Campher said: “Andy is a great suit, to be honest: he gives you free rein when you’re bowling and he gives you just the freedom to do what you want.”