Tykes attack hit by double whammy

3:37pm Sunday 11th May 2008

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Martyn Moxon must have been ripping his hair out last week after two hamstring tears ruined his early season bowling planning.

One minute Morne Morkel thinks that he should be okay after feeling a little bit of tightness in his right leg in the most recent Championship game against Nottinghamshire, only to find out that it is a grade two tear.

And then 22-year-old bowler Ajmal Shahzad does exactly the same thing in a second team game against Notts' at Stamford Bridge.

Morkel, one of the better overseas signings in county cricket, has returned to South Africa to recover for three to six weeks. And that is the same time frame for pace ace Shahzad.

It is impossible to assess Morkel's form as he only played one game and sat out quite a bit of that to boot.

But with the international experience of the 23-year-old, you would have expected him to put in a match-winning performance at some point.

As for Shahzad, he was starting to become a valuable asset with the bat as well as the ball.

He hit a useful 33 to get the Tykes within touching distance of an opening-day Friends Provident Trophy win at Durham - and has performed solidly with the ball since.