The England Globetrotters

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Matt H in 40/50-over, First Class, Opinion, T20

To follow up on this article, Owais Shah appears to be finding some form for the Cape Cobras in the South African Franchise 1-Day Cup (yes, that is the correct tournament name). He had a sluggish start, with a run of uninspiring scores: 11, 7, 8, 27 and 16. However firstly against Warriors he made 61, followed by 50 against Knights, as the Cobras headed to the top of the table. Tomorrow, they host Dolphins; a win will secure their place in the final, a loss would most likely see them qualify for the semi-finals, unless both Warriors or Knights lose as well (yes, those are the correct team names). Currently Shah averages 26.71 with a strike rate of 71.

Meanwhile, Steven Finn continues for Otago in New Zealand’s Plunket Shield. So far Otago have had mixed fortunes: one win, one draw and one defeat from their three matches. Finn started well by taking 3-87 and 2-10 in the victory over Canterbury, but failed to take a wicket in the rain-affected draw with Northern Districts. These fixtures sandwiched the match against Central Districts: Finn took 1-35 at an impressive economy (1.75 runs per over), but Otago were skittled out for 63 and lost by an innings. He is currently playing his final match and has figures of 0-45 against Wellington.

Over in Zimbabwe, Phil Mustard is playing for Mountaineers. He made 105 in a first-class match against Southern Rocks, but has registered a run of mediocre  scores in the T20 tournament: 18, 15 and 22, albeit at a high strike rate of 137.50. He’s also keeping wicket for his team and thus far has only a couple of dismissals. Elsewhere, Rory Hamilton-Brown and Peter Trego are both playing for Mashonaland Eagles. In matches against the touring Kenyan side, the former made 5 and 28 and took 0-11 and 1-13. He’s not done any better in the domestic T20 matches: scores of 9 and 0 with bowling figures of 0-8 and 0-24. Trego’s bowling figures are better: 1-31, 1-7, 0-31, 1-23, 1-25; but with the bat he appears to have struggled: 3, 22, 20, 11 and 0. The Eagles are bottom of the table, albeit have only played two matches; Mountaineers are second with two wins from three matches.

Summary: what awful team names.