da esoccer bet: Michael Kasprowicz finished the 2003 season as the most successful bowler in Division Twoof the County Championship, and with 77 wickets to his name, he was also the second highestwicket-taker in the country, with only Mushtaq Ahmed of Sussex

Andrew Hignell21-Sep-2003Michael Kasprowicz finished the 2003 season as the most successful bowler in Division Twoof the County Championship, and with 77 wickets to his name, he was also the second highestwicket-taker in the country, with only Mushtaq Ahmed of Sussex taking more wickets.

O       M       R     WMushtaq Ahmed    836.3    163    2539   103MS Kasprowicz    572.3    140    1629    77J Lewis          551.2    142    1800    74Kabir Ali        415.2     72    1552    67M Hayward        427.3     83    1533    67SP Kirby         463       80    1769    67JF Brown         647      188    1565    66NAM McLean       551.3    115    1872    65RDB Croft        731.5    192    1928    65

During the final five weeks of the season, between August 13th and September 19th, `Kasper` took37 wickets in 193.1 overs, with each wicket costing just 13.9 runs apiece. This sequenceincluded his two 9 wicket hauls against Durham – 9/36 at Cardiff and 9/45 at Chester-le-Street.He has now taken 35 wickets in the last three matches against the North-Eastern county, havingtaken 11/105 last year at the Riverside ground. This year he took 11/77 at Cardiff and then13/110 at the Durham ground, with his 35 wickets against Durham costing just 8 runs apiece.Kasprowicz`s haul of 77 wickets is the most by an overseas bowler for Glamorgan, passingWaqar Younis` 68 wickets in the Championship-winning year of 1997, and they are also themost in a first-class season for Glamorgan since 1993, when Steve Watkin took 86 wickets.Kasprowicz was one of three Glamorgan bowlers to take over 50 wickets in 2003. Alex Wharfclaimed 52 whilst Robert Croft finished with 65 wickets to also finish in the top tenwicket-takers in the country in 2003.Of the English-qualified spinners, only Jason Brown of Northamptonshire with 66 wicketstook more wickets than Croft, but Brown only went past the Glamorgan bowler in the finalgame of the season as he took 5 wickets against Worcestershire on a wicket at Wantage Roadthat was subsequently docked eight points after being deemed `poor` by an ECB pitch panel.With 739 runs to his name, Croft also scored more runs than any of the other leading bowlers,and in addition to a fine all-round season, Croft bowled 731.5 overs – more than any otherEnglish-qualified bowler in the whole of the country.