ALTHOUGH Kevin Cooper played only three Minor Counties Championship games for Herefordshire this season, he made his presence felt as an opening bowler.

The veteran seamer claimed 10 wickets in each match, with five in each innings, and finished top of the club averages by a long way with 9.50 for each of his 30 victims.

The former Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire County Championship performer, now aged 43, bowled 141.1 overs, the second highest amount behind his opening partner Paul Humphries. Humphries, 35, totalled 171.2 overs and was the second highest wicket-taker with a return of 22 at an average of 23.04.

During the season Cooper became the first Herefordshire player to reach 150 wickets in the Minor Counties Championship, while Humphries claimed his 100th victim in the last game against Oxfordshire.

Skipper Chris Boroughs was the top run-maker with an aggregate of 420 for an average of 42.00, while Nathan Round averaged 45.00 from his five innings.

Andy Edwards averaged 55.33, but played only four innings and was not out on one occasion.

HEREFORDSHIRE CCC

BATTING

Ins No Rn Hs Av

A Edwards 4 1 166 82 55.33

P Sarfaraz 2 0 96 52 48.00

N Round 5 1 182 130 45.50

C Boroughs 10 0 420 124 42.00

R Nagra 5 0 178 85 35.60

I Dawood 9 0 286 68 31.77

G Roberts 3 0 91 53 30.33

H Patel 7 0 195 78 27.85

K Pearson 9 2 193 60 27.57

R Hall 2 1 26 16 26.00

N Prabhu 3 0 71 36 23.66

S Swaffield 2 1 23 21 23.00

T Wolfendale 2 1 20 18 20.00

A Mason 4 2 39 16 19.50

N Davies 10 1 173 54 19.22

J Shaw 3 1 33 17 16.50

R Hughes 8 0 126 42 15.75

M Horrocks 3 2 11 7 11.00

P Thomas 5 1 35 12 8.75

A Farooque 2 0 13 9 6.50

K Cooper 4 1 9 5 3.00

P Humphries 6 1 3 2 0.60

BOWLING

Ovs M R W Av

K Cooper 141.1 46 285 30 9.50

J Shaw 53.3 13 149 7 21.28

P Humphries 171.2 45 507 22 23.04

A Edwards 42.5 11 144 6 24.00

P Thomas 74.2 15 273 11 24.81

M Horrocks 42 8 152 5 30.40

R Nagra 26.1 6 103 3 34.33

N Davies 114 14 481 13 37.00

K Pearson 42 9 181 4 45.25

G Roberts 77 32 177 3 59.00

A Mason 20 4 81 1 81.00