Three balls from Proteas captain Dane van Niekerk helped to give the Sydney Sixers a crushing win over the Hurricanes in the WBBL.

The Hurricanes were making a brave effort to chase down 153 to win, and were 65-3 in the 12th over when Van Niekerk stepped up. She smashed the middle-order with her wily leg-spin, bowling India’s Veda Krishnamurth, captain Corinne Hall and Stefanie Daffara.

The next over, Van Niekerk removed Nicola Hancock for the stunning return of 4-20.

It was the third hat-trick in the WBBL since it started three years ago.

Van Niekerk has now taken six wickets in four innings at an average of 12.66 with an economy rate of 5.84

She has an affinity with fours this year: in the women’s world cup in England, she returned her best figures of 4 for 0 against the West Indies, and 4-24 against  Sri Lanka.