Taunton (Somerset), July 15: Indian bowlers came a cropper as Somerset rode on Arul Suppiah's unbeaten century and an equally fluent knock from England skipper Andrew Strauss to pile up a mammoth 329 for two on day one of the three-day warm-up match here today.
Nick Compton contributed with 88 off 136 balls. Suppiah's unbeaten 145 off 218 balls and Compton's knock notwithstanding, the biggest gainer of the day, in the context of the upcoming Test series, was Strauss.
With no match in three weeks and only 27 runs from three Tests in the preceding series against Sri Lanka, Strauss regained form with an authoritative 78 to laid the foundation, before the duo of Suppiah and Compton consolidated the position with a double century stand for the second wicket.
Of the total runs, 90 came from the day's final 15 overs, largely bowled by part-timers Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh.
Billed as Strauss vs Zaheer Khan contest, the left-handed batsman took the opening day's honours, but to be fair to the left-arm swing bowler, Zaheer bowled well within himself and was intent on just regaining his rhythm.
Zaheer could consider himself unlucky that a leg-before shout against Strauss wasn't upheld, with the batsman on 20.
The rest of the bowlers had a lot to play for and in that sense, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and Amit Mishra would be disappointed, never mind the bland nature of the pitch, the small ground and the lightning quick outfield.
Mishra, who got the wicket of Strauss, had to leave the field after he was struck in his bowling hand by a fierce back-drive from Suppiah.
The blow was hard enough for Mishra not to finish his 15th over and leave the field with the physio in attendance.
Reports later indicated that there was no fracture. PTI
