India struggle at Taunton and Suppiah who ?

At the lung opener, Indians were made to sweat against a county side.  Somerset made sound 329 for 2  in 75 overs with little known Suppiah  unbeaten on 145, Compton [who[ making  88 and Andre Strauss practicing a solid 78.

The match was played at Taunton – a  town which  derives its name  from "Town on the River Tone" — or Tone Town. In India we have Ranji played between the States and Duleep played between Zones.  In England, it is county cricket.   Counties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation.

Somerset is a famous county for which once Viv Richards and Ian Botham played.  The ground at Taunton was formerly known as Athletic Ground and is centuries old.  It is : The County Ground, St. James's Street, Taunton, Somerset. 

Somerset is a non-metropolitan county in South West England bordering  Bristol and Gloucestershire, Devon and a part of it is on the estuary of the River Severn. Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001.

The match was touted to be one between Strauss and Zaheer – Andrew Strauss warmed up for the first test with a good knock even as all Indian bowlers toiled hard.  Strauss is making a guest appearance and there is debate on  whether the structure allows it and whether the country benefits in any manner from this move.   Zaheer would certainly play in the 1^st test and perhaps share the new ball with Ishant Sharma with Praveen kumar also in the team.  Sreesanth and Munaf failed to make any impression against the county side.  There were plenty of overs from the part-time spinners  Raina and Yuvraj Singh.

Suppiah which does not sound an English name registered his  sixth first-class hundred from 179 balls.  Arul Vivasvan Suppiah was born in the year when Indians lifted the WC first time, at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  This tall right handed batsman is a slow left arm spinner as well. July has been an exceptional month for him – for besides this ton against a Test Nation, he has entered into the record books with a T20 World record. 

In Friends Life T20 - South Group  match at Cardiff, when Somerset played Glamorgan on 5^th July 2011, Glamorgan were shot out for a paltry 98 and Suppiah had dream figures.   The  home side, who were put into bat by Somerset, struggled against Murali Kartik, Max Waller and Suppiah as they could not register even three figures.  Suppiah in his 3.4 overs gave away 5 runs and took 6 wickets.  His record figures bettered Sohail Tanvir's 6 for 14 for Rajasthan against Chennai in Jaipur in May 2008.  Kieron Pollard made the winning runs.

English county has lot of foreign players flourishing and some have went on to play for England as well.  Whether Arul Suppiah would ever don English flannels remains to be seen

Regards – S. Sampathkumar