Somerset welcome Abdur Rehman in race to the top of points table Cricket News Update

Pakistan spinner, Abdur Rehman, is all set to make his long-awaited debut for the English county Somerset on Wednesday, and will be playing a vital role in an important LV=County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Taunton.

Last month, the 32-year-old had signed with the Taunton club as one of their overseas player, but his arrival was delayed due to visa clearance issues.

The visitors are second placed on the Division One table and have a 12-point lead over the hosts, who are sitting at the fourth spot, having played 11 matches each of the current season.

 The English county will play four of their last five matches of the Championship on home turf (Taunton) and their Director of Cricket Brian Rose remains hopeful that the dry weather would persist, much to the liking of the Pakistani left-arm spinner.  

However, given the bleak forecast for the upcoming days Rose admitted that Abdur Rehman might have to bowl on track suited more for pace men. Nonetheless, he is eager to see the bowler adjusting quickly to the playing conditions .

 "I feel sorry for our ground staff because the weather has made life so tough for them. We have contemplated playing two spinners against Notts, but it may well be that conditions are still damp and will favour seam more."

"The great thing about having someone like Rehman is that world class spinner can take wickets on any surface, especially when it comes to bowling out the tail," the director further added.

It will be the left-arm bowler"s first foray in English county cricket, hoping to emulate similar success as achieved by other Pakistani players.  The spinner has played 17 Tests (81 dismissals at 28.40) along with 23 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 7 T20Is.

Brian Rose also eyes the usefulness of the Pakistani player with the bat, who has already played some valuable innings for his team while coming down the order.

"I expect him to get runs as well as wickets for us because he is a very useful lower order batsman and it will be good to have a left-hander going in around number eight," he concluded.

Somerset is currently trailing table toppers Warwickshire by 20 points, and will need to win their home-matches against Sussex, Surrey and Worcestershire to keep their title aspirations alive.

Courtesy:  BlogsBettor