Ruben Trumpelmann: ‘Whatever wicket I take, I will celebrate as hard as I can’

No one else had done it before in T20I cricket’s 16-year-old history. Till a tall, beefy fast bowler with platinum-blonde hair who no one knew anything about tore Scotland apart in a single over on Wednesday. Now the question "has any bowler taken three wickets in the first over of a T20I innings?" has an affirmative answer: Ruben Trumpelmann. They were the craziest, most dramatic five minutes in the left arm pacer’s fledgling career. He called that over “potentially life-changing” in an interview the morning after the Scotland game.“My phone has kept ringing for 24 hours,” he said. “It’s an awesome time for us, for Namibia as a country.”The 23-year-old South Africa born strapping fast bowler qualified to play for Namibia because his father is from the country.“I was born and raised in South Africa and have been in their structure for 20 years, before recently moving over,” he said. “My dad and my grand-dad have been here for the whole World Cup and they have thoroughly enjoyed it. There has been a lot of support from my family...my mom, my grandparents and cousins. It's awesome out there getting the exposure and I am loving every moment of it.”In the very first delivery in Namibia's Super 12 game against Scotland, left-handed George Munsey slashed, managing only to deflect the angled, swinging ball back on to the stumps. Swing was always Trumpelmann's plan.“I had to hit my traps quickly. We had a plan and I just wanted to stick to that,” he said. “I knew I had the ability to swing the ball in and luckily for me it came off. It’s one of those days, it doesn’t happen often.”What happens even less often--or never at all--followed. The third ball of his opening over lifted off the deck, took an edge and was safely pouched behind the stumps, before the next ball swung in viciously to trap Richie Berrington for a first ball duck.“Swing is one of those skill sets I have had from young age. But first I would spray it around and couldn’t control it,” he said. “I learnt it over time and when it does go around like it did on Wednesday night, you just use it to your advantage.”The fast bowler--he hits 140kph plus regularly--was on a hattrick but he had to settle for three wickets with the only runs conceded coming from two wides.“I haven’t taken a hat-trick ever before, so it would have been my first one,” he said, laughing. “But at that stage it wasn’t even on my mind. I just wanted to get through the over, get us through the powerplay. It was just next ball, next ball to be honest.“It hasn’t really sunk in that it really happened. In the game you are busy trying to get the game done. After that you process what really happened. And now thinking back at the moment, it’s something that I can’t really explain to you,” he said. “I will get a clip or two of my spell, and rewatch it a few times to soak it all in.”Having grown up with good cricket facilities in South Africa, to now play for Namibia where 16 contracted players train in one facility with a few turf nets and nothing else, Trumpelmann knows the significance of their performances for the small southwest African nation. “We have got three wins on the bounce. Coming into the tournament, our goal was to get to the Super 12’s, which we have achieved,” he said. “We have got four big games against Test nations and we will try to make it as hard as possible, maybe even cause an upset or two. We are not here to hang around."Next up is Afghanistan, then Pakistan, New Zealand and India. Any big scalps that he dreams of?“I reckon any scalp going forward is going to be a great scalp. I will just go out there and enjoy the moment. Whatever wicket I take, I will celebrate as hard as I can.”