Sunday, February 22nd, 2015

Twohig Picks Up Two Wickets As England Under-17S Overcome Pakistan

Twohig Picks Up Two Wickets As England Under-17S Overcome Pakistan

Worcestershire slow left arm spinner Ben Twohig picked up two wickets as the England Development Programme Under-17 side overcame Pakistan Under-17s by 70 runs in the third one-day match in Dubai.

Twohig, who is part of Worcestershire's 2014-2015 Academy intake, returned figures of 2-39 from nine overs as Pakistan were bowled out for 155 in the 45th over.

The Malvern College pupil held a catch and was responsible for running out Umair Masood for five in addition to dismissing Hassan Khan (8) and Shadab Khan (2) after being introduced into the attack as the fifth bowler.

Twohig, who has already played for the Worcestershire Second Eleven last summer, also had a brief chance with the bat in making seven not out from six balls batting at number nine.

England recovered from 44-3 thanks to a partnership of 150 for the fourth wicket between Northamptonshire's Saif Zaib (88) and Middlesex's Martin Andersson (65) as they ended their 50 overs on 225-9.

Yorkshire seamer Eddie Barnes returned 3-18 from nine overs and Twohig, Surrey's Sam Curran and skipper Max Holden all finished with two wickets. Pakistan won the series 2-1.

Head coach Iain Brunnschweiler said: “Today's victory represents the hard work that all of the players have put in since arriving out here.

“They have continued to adapt to the conditions and become more and more consistent in their delivery of their skills.

“Saif Zaib and Martin Andersson's partnership was absolutely superb. Both players knew it was going to be tough up front and they needed to play strong shots in order to get in, whilst still being positive.

"Once they had done the hard work, they both played intelligently and expanded their scoring options accordingly. Their platform set up an excellent total of 225, which I was really pleased with.

“The response in the field was equally good, with Eddie Barnes epitomising our approach with his relentless spells of bowling, picking up wickets at a miserly rate.

"He was well backed up by Ben Twohig, Max Holden and Sam Curran, as well as with some good fielding.

“It's a shame that today was not the one day series decider after our narrow loss on Thursday, but we have continued to improve throughout the trip which is really encouraging.”

England complete their tour with a three-day match against Pakistan which starts on Tuesday.