Hooper’s Lancashire’s in C&G semi-final

WORCESTER: Lancashire, with the in form ex-West Indies captain Carl Hooper, tackle Worcester-shire today in the semi-finals of England’s Cheltenham and Gloucester (C&G) Trophy championship at New Road. Both teams have been lifted by the return of their Test players. Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson have been cleared by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to take part in the match for Lancashire, while South Africa’s Andrew Hall has been given special permission to return for Worcestershire. Hall had been signed by Worcestershire as an overseas player before his call-up to the Test squad. Hooper has featured in three fine wins by Lancashire in the past two weeks.

Hooper thumped a century (117) in Lancashire’s county win over Leicestershire last week before compiling a steady 71 in their National Cricket League (NCL) triumph over Nottingham-shire on Sunday. Then on Monday night, he hit an attacking half century, 79 off 67 balls, and took three wickets for Lancashire to beat Derbyshire in another NCL match. The 36-year-old Hooper, who was axed as West Indies captain after the World Cup and subsequently withdrew from the team, signed this summer for Lancashire as replacement for injured Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh.