LONDON: Pakistan Test batsman Azhar Ali marked his Somerset debut with a century as the visitors established a commanding position in their First Division County Championship match away to Worcestershire on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old right-hander made 125 off 188 balls with the help of 13 fours and two sixes, before he was last man out in a Somerset total of 362 for nine declared at New Road.
England off-spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali did his chances of a Test recall ahead of next week’s series opener against India at Edgbaston no harm with a return of five wickets for 107 runs.
Worcestershire then lost Daryl Mitchell (6) and Moeen (7) before ending the third and penultimate day on 50 for two, leaving them needing a further 393 runs to win on the final day of the four-day fixture.
Reflecting on his innings, Azhar, who played in Pakistan’s drawn Test series in England earlier this season, added: “Moeen started to turn the ball out of the rough so I thought attacking him early on was the right option because if you are bogged down, they can bring a short leg into play so, I had to go after him to start with.
“We wanted to score runs as well to be in a position to boss the game. That is why I played positively and it paid off,” explained Azhar, who was eventually caught off a reverse-sweep against Moeen.
Somerset have had a superb return from their overseas batsmen so far this season after deciding not to go ahead with bringing Cameron Bancroft to Taunton following the Australian’s role in a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa earlier this year.
They signed Matt Renshaw, a fellow Australia batsman, in his place and he went on to make three hundreds, while averaging 51.30, before breaking a finger against Surrey last month — an injury that paved the way for Azhar’s arrival.
