Bendigo United's Isaac Willits was stunned when his captain Aidan Clemens threw him the ball to bowl the final over of last Saturday's BDCA under-16A match.
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The Redbacks' arch-rival Strathdale-Maristans required 12 runs off the final over to win with six wickets in hand.
Off-spinner Willits had conceded 15 runs off his previous over and he thought his spell with the ball was done and dusted.
It's a good thing his skipper had faith in him.
With the first three deliveries of the final over Willits achieved every bowler's dream - a hat-trick.
"I was pretty excited about it, but the rest of the team was a bit nervous because their opening batsman came back in,'' Willits said.
"We still had to win the game."
Just to make sure of it, Willits took another wicket off the fifth ball of the innings as the Redbacks celebrated a nine-run win.
His final over figures were 4-2 which gave him a career-best performance of 6-19.
"It was pretty awesome to win the game like that,'' he said.
An all-rounder who has played with the Redbacks since under-12s, Willits has played some senior cricket with Spring Gully in the EVCA this summer.
The 15-year-old played for the Crows in Tuesday night's Twenty20 grand final loss to United.
"It's been a lot of fun playing for Spring Gully,'' he said.
"Unfortunately, we didn't make enough runs in the T20 grand final."
Willits said his under-16 coach at Bendigo United - Ian Clemens - had been the biggest influence on his cricket.
"Ian has coached me the last two or three years and he's helped me a lot,'' he said.
Willits started his junior cricket career as a pace bowler, but a spin bowling challenge in the nets with his mates a couple of years ago changed his focus.
"We had a competition to see who could bowl the best spinners and I was best at it so I stuck with it,'' he said.
It turned out to be a good decision for Willits and his team-mates.
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