The games of fate are also very surprising. There are many players who got many opportunities to prove themselves but they failed. On the other hand, there are some players who get limited opportunities in international cricket, and on these occasions they shone with their performance but could not play much cricket. Australia’s Anthony Stuart can be placed in the category of such unfortunate cricketers.

Australia’s New South Wales fast bowler Anthony Stuart’s international career lasted just 12 days. During this time, he gave his best performance. In fact, in his last ODI, he took 5 wickets including a hat-trick and two catches. He also became the Player of the Match but could not play for the country again.

His international career came to a ‘full stop’ after playing three ODIs. There is no doubt that whatever opportunity Anthony Stuart got, he left no stone unturned to perform excellently.

Anthony Stuart’s cricket career

Anthony Mark Stuart was born on 2 January 1970. Based on his excellent performance in List A matches of domestic cricket, he made his way into the Australian team and made his ODI debut against West Indies on 5 January 1997, three days after his 27th birthday.

In his debut ODI, he took two wickets for 48 runs in 10 overs. The importance of these wickets increases because West Indies lost three wickets on a batting wicket and two of them – Brian Lara and Junior Murray – were dismissed by Stuart.

Stuart played another match against Pakistan on 7 January and took one wicket for 35 runs in 10 overs. He also contributed two run outs.

Took a hat-trick in the last match of his career and then disappeared

The match played on 16 January was a ‘milestone’ in terms of his career. In this match against Pakistan at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), he took 5 wickets including a hat-trick and 3 catches and was declared man of the match. At that time, he became the second Australian bowler after Bruce Reid to take a hat-trick in ODIs. Stuart completed a hat-trick by dismissing Ejaz Ahmed, Mohammad Wasim and Moeen Khan.

Three in three! Anthony Stuart had the MCG buzzing with a hat-trick in 1997! #MelbourneMoments pic.twitter.com/Y4VtBax8Vx

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) September 2, 2020

However, this match proved to be the last match of the Australian bowler’s international career and after this he did not get a chance to play for the country, And within 12 days, he was out of the team.

What is Anthony Stuart doing after retiring from cricket

In his three ODI career, Stuart took 8 wickets at an average of 13.62. Let us tell you that Stuart’s first class and List A career also did not last long. He has 70 wickets in 26 first class matches and 45 wickets in 27 List A matches. After retiring from cricket in 2000, Anthony Stuart took up responsibilities as an administrator in cricket. Later he also coached the Wellington team in New Zealand.