Video: Leach 'gutted' despite a hat-trick
Stafford's Joe Leach admitted he was "gutted" after what should have been a day to savour for Worcestershire ended on a low note.
The seamer bagged a hat-trick from the first three balls of the Rapids' Royal London One-Day Cup clash with Northamptonshire Steelbacks at New Road, but still finished up on the losing side.
Leach, who attended Yarlet School near Stafford and played for Milford Hall and Staffordshire before switching allegiances to Shrewsbury and Shropshire, got his first two wickets from seam.
Richard Levi and Rob Keogh edged to wicketkeeper Ben Cox. Ben Duckett was third out, steering a shorter delivery to Jack Shantry at gully.
In a gripping, low-scoring game on an unpredictable pitch, Northamptonshire were dismissed for 126 after being 19-6 with Leach ending with 4-30 and Shantry 4-29.
Worcestershire were shot out for just 105, with Mohammad Azharullah claiming 4-22, much to Leach's dismay.
He said: "I can't quite believe we've lost. Obviously, the first three balls were an unbelievable feeling.
"I never thought something like that would happen, but I'm a bit gutted at the way the rest of the game went. I just put the ball in what I thought was a decent area and the batsmen nicked it.
"The hat-trick ball came out a little shorter than what I intended and that was partly the reason why he (Duckett) gloved it.
"Cricket's a funny old game, isn't it? On some days you bowl six perfect balls and get taken for eight off an over. Other days you don't get it quite right and get a hat-trick. That's the way the game works."
Leach's feat is not unique in modern times. Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas also bagged three in three balls at the start of a World Cup clash with Bangladesh in 2003.
