Broken hat-trick : Jacob Oram and Merv Hughes

New Zealand's Jacob Oram took a hat-trick against Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 International at the R. Premadasa stadium on Wednesday. Oram's three wickets in three balls, but in two separate overs, was missed by almost everyone.
A nail-biting finish and the helter-skelter nature of the Twenty20 game overshadowed a rare feat. Oram took a return catch off Angelo Mathews in the last ball of his third and 17th over of the innings. He was then called on to bowl the final over of the innings with Sri Lanka needing nine runs with three wickets in hand to surpass New Zealand's 141-8.
The very first ball the tall all-rounder bowled, Malinga Bandara tried to whack the Kiwi out of the ground. But he was caught in deep. Next ball was the action replay as Nuwan Kulasekara, too ballooned a catch.
This was only the second hat-trick in T20Is after Australian fast bowler Brett Lee's three in three against Bangladesh in the inaugural World Cup Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007.
This feat reminds me one of the rarest hat-trick in the history of cricket. During the home series against The West Indies in 1988-89, Australia’s Merv Hughes had 3 out of 3 in the second Test at Perth. Hughes had polished off Curtly Ambrose in the last ball of his 36th over and when he got the wicket of Patrick Patterson in the first ball of his 37th over West Indian first innings came to an end.
Two days later during the second innings of West Indies the moustache-man got out Caribbean opener Gordon Greenidge off the first ball he bowled. Thus he got three wickets in three consecutive deliveries but all in three separate overs.
Earlier in the first Test of the series West Indian great Courtney Walsh also recorded a hat-trick and it was also a ‘broken one’. Walsh dismissed Tony Dodemaide in the first innings and then in the second innings he took the wicket of Mike Veletta and Graeme Wood.