Shan in top form as Yorkshire ends season on a high

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan discard Shan Masood completed his debut season with Yorkshire with flying colours when he scored a century that helped his side to beat Worcestershire in a high-scoring run-chase at Headingley on Friday.

Shan, who was overlooked for the World Cup, scored a 131-ball 123 with 15 fours as Yorkshire achieved the 360-run target for the loss of four wickets with 18 balls remaining in the match. Together with James Wharton (89), Shan put on 164 runs for the third wicket that set the stage for Yorkshire’s second-bottom finish with three victories in the County Championship Division Two. Without the 48-point penalty imposed because of the racism scandal, Yorkshire would have finished the season in third.

Durham won the championship with 233 points, followed by Worcestershire (167), Sussex (150), Leicestershire (142), Glamorgan (139), Derbyshire (113) and Gloucestershire (97).

Shan had joined the circuit late due to his commitments with the Pakistan men’s cricket team in Sri Lanka but still finished the season with impressive figures of 720 runs in seven matches at an average of 60 with two centuries and three half centuries.

Despite featuring in seven matches, Shan was the third most successful Yorkshire batsman after Adam Lyth (1,019 runs in 13 matches) and Finlay Beans (983 runs in 13 matches).

Amongst the Pakistan batters involved in the championship, Shan was the most impressive, finishing 13 places ahead of 37th-placed Azhar Ali, who scored 612 runs in 14 matches for Worcestershire. Derbyshire’s Haider Ali was 47th with 481 runs in 10 matches, Zafar Gohar of Gloucestershire was 64th with 391 runs in 13 matches, while Umar Amin of Leicestershire (108 runs in four matches) and Saud Shakeel of Yorkshire (71 runs in three matches) were the two other Pakistan batsmen to feature in the championship.