Jang News - Younis, Kaneria shine in English county cricket

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former vice-captain Younis Khan, having only recently declined to accept the national team’s captaincy, is one big reason why Yorkshire are currently on top of the English County Cricket Championship Division One points table. Last season’s champions Sussex are placed seventh in the nine-team table and, if these were not the early stages of the competition, they would be faced with the danger of being relegated to the next summer’s Division Two circuit.

Yorkshire, with three wins and a draw from four matches so far which have fetched them a total of 74 points, lead the English County Championship Division One table. Sussex have won one and lost two of their three matches and have a points tally of just 28.

Sussex’s line-up is strengthened by the presence of Younis’s fellow Pakistanis, the veteran leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed and the national team discard all-rounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who played a major role in their adopted county’s Championship triumph last season.

The largest number of runs in the English first-class summer of 2007 have so far been made by former Australia left-handed opener Justin Langer, who has totalled an amazing 647 in four matches at an average of 129.40. Playing for Somerset, Langer has scored a hundred and half-century each in six innings.

Somerset, however, are placed in the County Championship Division Two. They are second behind Nottinghamshire in the points table and, if all goes well till the end of the competition, they could be one of the three top Division Two teams who will get promoted to Division One.

Younis is down at number 18 in the list of batsmen with most runs in the ongoing England cricket season. But he has done very well in his own way — his four matches for Yorkshire have so far been worth a total of 378 runs at an average of 75.60. He has scored two centuries, both in the same match against Hampshire at Southampton earlier this month which eventually ended in a draw.

After a start with some devastating spells of bowling, both Mushtaq and Naved have not managed to keep Sussex in the winning mode. In three matches each though, they both have overall a reasonable record.

While Mushtaq’s 15 wickets have cost him 30.66 runs apiece, Naved has taken 13 wickets and conceded an economical 25.92 runs for each one of them.

The bowling table is currently headed by England fast bowler Steve Harmison, who for Durham and the MCC has taken 27 wickets at a mere 14.92 runs each in four first-class matches. A Pakistani bowler is not far behind.

Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has sent down an exact 200 overs in three matches for Essex and taken 25 wickets at a personal cost of 23.12 runs each. Essex is currently placed fourth in the Division Two table. Naturally, it hopes that its Pakistani import will get it into next summer’s Division One circuit.