Shoaib Bashir smashed for 38 in record equalling over at Worcestershire
Shoaib Bashir equalled the most expensive over in the history of English first class cricket while on loan to Worcestershire for the Vitality County Championship encounter with Surrey at New Road.
The England spinner, on loan for a month to Worcestershire from Somerset, conceded 38 runs including five successive sixes to Dan Lawrence.
It was a wake-up call for Bashir who, in the winter, picked up 17 wickets in three Tests in India. Lawrence cleared the boundary with the first five deliveries of the over between long off and wide long on.
The next ball went for five wides and then Lawrence took a single off a no ball before last man Dan Worrall failed to score off the eighth delivery.
It equalled the 38 struck by Freddie Flintoff off Alex Tudor for Lancashire against Surrey in a Championship match at Old Trafford in 1998. Lawrence went onto to make a career best 175 before he was last out with the Surrey first innings total on 490.
Worcestershire then slumped to 147-7 with only Jake Libby, with a 145 ball half century, offering much resistance as Lawrence’s fine day continued with two wickets.
n Keith Barker reminded Warwickshire’s fans of the skills they lost in 2018 as he bowled Hampshire into control on the second day of their Vitality County Championship match at Edgbaston.
Barker’s left-arm swing earned him 14 hauls of five wickets or more as a Warwickshire player. He bagged his ninth for Hampshire with six for 74 to give them the upper hand in a gripping contest in the Birmingham sunshine. In reply to 298, Warwickshire were dismissed for 254 by Barker and Kyle Abbott (three for 64) despite impressive resistance from young batters Jake Bethell (69 from 140 balls) and Dan Mousley (57, 89)
A lead of 44 is handy in conditions which have given the seamers some encouragement and Hampshire built on it in the final session to reach 88 for two as Fletcha Middleton (58, 87) struck his second half-century of the match.
