11:10am Monday 1st February 2010
By Ian Oxborrow
Graham Napier won the bragging rights and the HRV Cup in New Zealand, beating Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara.
And in doing so, Napier moved clear of Pakistan’s Yasir Arafat as the world’s leading Twenty20 wicket-taker.
Napier’s Central District side completed a comfortable 78-run victory over Auckland at New Plymouth after posting an imposing 206-6.
The Essex all-rounder, from Colchester, then produced a devastating opening burst with the ball to help reduce Auckland to 9-4.
In the process of his three-over spell of 2-17, Napier bowled county colleague Bopara for three.
Napier’s two wickets now mean he has taken 88 wickets in Twenty20 cricket – two ahead of Arafat. The cup victory caps a fine winter for Napier, whose bowling performances in New Zealand’s domestic Twenty20 competition will have caught the eye of the England selectors.
They have been keeping tabs on Bopara, having left him out of recent England squads.
And with the Twenty20 World Cup coming up in April and May in the West Indies, and Napier set to feature in the Indian Premier League before that, it is he who may be the one to get the call.
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