After putting paid to the batting ambitions of The Reverend Vernon Royle, Francis MacKinnon and Thomas Emmett on the opening day at Melbourne, Spofforth - nicknamed "The Demon Bowler" - ended the innings with figures of 6 wickets for 48 runs.

And he went on to claim 7-62 in the second innings, which meant the one-off Test finished inside three days, with the touring England team beaten by 10 wickets.

But why was The Demon Bowler's diabolically effective feat a hat-trick?

According to the records, it was cricket which had originated this now hugely familiar term.

In 1858, at the Hyde Park ground in Sheffield, Heathfield Harman "HH" Stephenson - playing for the All-England Eleven against Hallam - took three wickets with consecutive deliveries.

As was then customary following outstanding feats by professional players, a collection was held for Stephenson and supporters bought him a cap, or hat, with the proceeds.

Who knows? Had they alighted upon a different memento we could be talking nowadays about a fountain pen-trick, or a carriage clock-trick. Sir Geoff Hurst - the first man to score a carriage clock-trick in a World Cup final…

The significance of that choice has reverberated down the years as sports have adopted the notion to mark achievements of a treble nature.

A year before Spofforth’s flourish, on March 2 1878, the first international hat-trick in football was scored by Scotland's John McDougall in a 7-2 win over England.

Gaelic football, hockey, ice hockey, handball, lacrosse, rugby union, motor racing, water polo, darts and marbles are among those others which have made the notion an intrinsic part of themselves.

But before diving into some of this sporting history - a deeper question. What’s the big deal with three? A less straightforward enquiry than the one concerning the origin of the "hat-trick" term.

It goes way, way, way back.

The ancient Greek philosopher, Pythagoras, regarded three as the perfect number, in that it was expressive of "beginning, middle and end", which he saw as a symbol of deity.

Other philosophers have embraced the number three as expressing past, present and future or birth, life and death.

There are deep religious resonances to the number three in many faiths and cultures.

In the Hebrew language the number three represents harmony, new life and completeness.

Christian faith is replete with the significance of three. The baby Jesus was presented with gold, frankincense and myrhh by the Three Wise Men. Jesus rose from the dead after three days. And the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Ghost - is at the heart of the religion.

In terms of artistic composition the rule of the thirds - roughly based on the ratio of the Golden Mean espoused by Renaissance painters - has long been used as a guideline. Broadly, it involves dividing your composition into thirds, vertically or horizontally, and then placing the focal areas on the intersections.

In horticulture, planting in groups of three is a staple means of ensuring a natural and pleasing look.

The same principle is employed in interior décor. Odd numbers appeal to our brains, and three is apparently the smallest number that can be used to form a distinguishable pattern in our heads.

We all know, again and again and again, the power of three. So many messages and stories and sayings, ancient and modern, employ this form.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears - porridge that is too hot, too cold, and just right.

And while we are on food, by the by, when the music impresario Max in the film The Sound of Music is offered another piece of strudel on the Von Trapps' terrace, he responds: "Make it an uneven three."

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Young, Gifted and Black. Peace, Land and Bread. Over-sexed, over-paid and over ‘ere. Crosby, Stills and Nash. Moore, Hurst and Peters. Right, left and centre. Bacon, sausage and egg. Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Up, up and away. Going, going, gone. Crash, bang, wallop.

As for the Olympics, it awards three classes of medal. Gold, silver and bronze. Its classic motto, meanwhile, is Citius Altius Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger).

Something in our souls responds to boom, boom, boom. So there is something particularly resonant about three sporting flourishes - a classical trinity.

In ice hockey the idea of the hat-trick has taken a literal form. On January 26 1946 Chicago forward Alex Kaleta scored four goals in a 6-5 National Hockey League (NHL) defeat by Toronto.

The story was that, before the match, Kaleta had walked into a famous hat shop in Toronto owned by Sammy Taft only to find that the fedora he desired was too expensive. Taft, a keen self-publicist, said he would give the Chicago star a hat if he scored three goals that night against the Maple Leafs. Kaleta managed that challenge with one goal to spare - and earned his headwear.

Within a few years fans in ice hockey hotspots such as Toronto and Montreal began marking hat-tricks scored by throwing hats onto the ice.

Ice hockey has also developed a variation upon the theme of the hat-trick in the form of the "natural hat-trick" - that is, when a player scores three consecutive goals uninterrupted by any other on either side.

The NHL record for this particular feat currently stands to Bill Mosienko, who achieved it for Chicago in 1952 - in just 21 seconds.

This particular sport has also created a unique sub-section - the Gordie Howe hat-trick. This comprises a goal, an assist and getting into a fight. Howe did this twice in his career. He has since been out-Howed by Rick Tocchet, who has accomplished this mixed flourish 18 times.

One can only imagine the sense of uneasy anticipation among opponents once he had scored and set up a team mate to do the same…

In rugby union and rugby league players can score hat-tricks of tries, although both codes have the sub-set of a "full house", which involves a try, a conversion, a penalty goal and a drop goal.

According to Guinness World Records, the fastest hat-trick of tries recorded in professional rugby league was scored on May 29 2017 by Castleford’s Greg Eden in 4min 59sec against Leigh Centurions at the Leigh Sports Village in Greater Manchester.

It was also the fourth consecutive Super League game in which Eden had scored a hat-trick.

Previously the mark stood to New Zealand Warriors player Shaun Johnson, who scored three times within 6:30 against Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League on August 31 2013.

Within international rugby league, Australia’s Valentine Holmes holds the distinction of having scored a double hat-trick against Fiji during the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

In rugby union, a total of 57 players have scored hat-tricks in the Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987.

The first player to achieve the feat was Craig Green, who scored four tries in New Zealand's 74-13 victory over Fiji in 1987; his team mate John Gallagher also scored four tries in this match.

Besides Green and Gallagher, fourteen players have scored more than three tries in a match; of these, Australia’s Chris Latham and England’s Josh Lewsey have scored five, while Marc Ellis scored six in New Zealand's 145-17 victory against Japan in 1995.

No player has scored a hat-trick in the Rugby World Cup final, but three have managed that feat in a semi-final - New Zealand’s Jonah Lomu in 1995 and Australia's Adam Ashley-Cooper in 2015, while England’s Jonny Wilkinson scored a hat-trick of drop goals in 2003.

Spofforth’s feat has been followed down the years by other notable Test hat-tricks.

England’s Dominic Cork joined that select club in 1995 as he successively claimed the wickets of West Indians Richie Richardson, Junior Murray and Carl Hooper.

In what was only his third match for England, Cork helped set up a six-wicket victory for the hosts at Old Trafford with his inspired spell on the fourth morning of the match.

Cork thus became the first Englishman to claim a Test hat-trick since Peter Loader had achieved the feat in 1957, also against West Indies.

In 2001, Harbhajan Singh made history when he became the first bowler to claim a Test hat-trick for India as he dismissed Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne in Kolkata.

At the end of a match won by India, Habhjajan finished with a total of 13 wickets.

Warne had already claimed his own place in Test hat-trick history, having secured that distinction in a match against England at Melbourne in 1994.

The third wicket was secured through a brilliant catch by David Boon which made Warne the first bowler to have secured an Ashes Test match hat-trick since Hugh Trumble 91 years earlier.

Wasim Akram achieved not one but two Test hat-tricks in March 1999, both against Sri Lanka.

Back in 1912, however, Australia’s leg-spinner Jimmy Matthews had done even better than that by taking two hat-tricks in the same match against South Africa at Old Trafford as the two nations played in a triangular tournament also involving England.

In fact, he achieved both on the same day.

The hat-trick has been equally embedded in football, with the fastest on record having been achieved by Sunday League footballer Alex Torr, who took 1:10 to score three times for Rawson Springs against Wayne Gardens on April 28 2013.

In professional football Swedish international Magnus Arvidsson scored three goals in 89 seconds that helped Hasleholm avoid relegation in the 1994-95 season by beating Landskrona 6-5.

The most famous footballing hat-trick of all time is surely Hurst's triple at Wembley in 1966 which made him the first, and so far only man to score a hat-trick in a men's World Cup final.

The England forward also completed the "perfect hat-trick" as his goals came via his head, his right foot and, with the last kick of the match in extra time, his left foot to secure a 4-2 win over West Germany.

Carli Lloyd of the United States matched Hurst’s feat in the 2015 women’s World Cup final against Japan, in the space of just 13 minutes.

The first World Cup tournament, won by hosts Uruguay in 1930, witnessed three hat-tricks, the first of which came from Bert Patenaude of the US in a 3-0 group-stage win over Paraguay.

In the 1958 finals, France’s Just Fontaine scored a hat-trick against Paraguay in the group stage, and four goals against West Germany in the third-place match.

France's challenge had been ended by a 5-2 defeat in the semi-final to eventual winners Brazil, for whom a 17-year-old Pelé scored a hat-trick.

One of the other most celebrated World Cup hat-tricks came from Italy’s Paolo Rossi in 1982, earning a 3-2 win over Brazil and propelling his side towards an eventual victory over West Germany.

Tottenham Horspur fans will always cherish the defiant and stupendous hat-trick scored by Gareth Bale, then 21, in a 4-3 defeat in their 2010 UEFA Champions League away game against Inter Milan.

Bale began his tour de force with his side 4-0 down and one man down. It was glorious.

Another celebrated footballing example involved Rivaldo's hat-trick for Barcelona on June 17 2001 which earned a 3-2 win over Valencia and secured a UEFA Champions League place.

Twice Rivaldo gave Barcelona the lead; twice Valencia equalised. In the 87^th minute Rivaldo decided matters with one of the most perfect of bicycle kicks.

While the hat-trick is not such an intrinsic phenomenon within athletics, there have been some notable versions achieved.

John Flanagan of the US won the hammer throw in the 1900, 1904 and 1908 Olympics.

Al Oerter of the US won four successive discus throws between 1956 and 1968, and his compatriot Carl Lewis won four successive Olympic long jump titles between 1984 and 1996.

Jan Železný of the Czech Republic won the javelin titles at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Games.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Poland’s Anita Włodarczyk  won her third successive women’s hammer throw title.

And at the Rio 2016 Olympics Usain Bolt of Jamaica completed a "treble treble" by becoming the first man to win three successive gold medals in the 100metres, 200m and 4x100m events.

A bit of the lustre fell off that achievement when a retrospective doping positive on one of his Beijing 2008 team mates, Nesta Carter, annulled that Jamaican sprint relay victory.

But it remains one of the great feats of track and field competition. So far…