YOUNG spinner Ben Twohig is maturing into a ‘fine all-round cricketer’, according to Pears second team coach Kevin Sharp.
Twohig returned his third five-wicket haul for the Seconds in Championship cricket during last week’s draw with Derbyshire at Stourbridge and also batted for more than 100 minutes in making 21 not out to help ensure the game was saved.
The former Malvern College pupil is skippering the Seconds in the T20 format this summer, having had his first taste of the role in the two matches with MCC Young Cricketers at Merchant Taylor’s School.
He returned to Wantage Road yesterday for the start of the three-day match with Northamptonshire after being 12th man for the Specsavers County Championship match three weeks ago.
“Ben is really maturing now, he is maturing as a cricketer, and turning into a fine all-round cricketer, bat, ball and fielding,” Sharp said. “He bowled beautifully against Derbyshire and he managed to get some spin and it was good to see. He is developing nicely really.
“I like working with the lads, helping them sort of come through from the academy into the second team and then the first team. It is great to see them develop.
“It is great to give them opportunities. That is what the second team is about, giving them opportunities to grow and develop and push for a first team place.”
Keeper Alex Milton is available for the remainder of the summer after a successful first half of the 2017 season with Cardiff MCCU and Cardiff CC.
Milton averaged 98 for Cardiff CC, with 482 runs in seven innings including three hundreds and two fifties. He also scored centuries for Cardiff MCCU.
“He is a fine cricketer. It doesn’t surprise me he has done as well as he has. I’m sure he will come back to us and continue performing,” said Sharp
The Seconds are heading into a concentrated period of cricket during the next few weeks.
“We’ve got three weeks of full-on cricket. We’ve got Northants, Durham and Leicestershire, with T20s on the Monday followed by the three-dayers. They are going to be busy.
“It is enormously challenging to play two T20s in a day and then start a three-dayer the next morning.”