Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin cleans up Tom Lammonby to pick up his maiden wicket for Surrey in County Championship
India's frontline Test spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up his first wicket for Surrey today (July 11) in their match against Somerset. In the 40th over of the innings, Somerset batsman Tom Lammonby left the ball thinking it would spin conventionally and leave him. But Ashwin's ball held its line and cleaned up the bails to dismiss the left-hander for 42.
Watch the wicket-taking delivery below:
Earlier in the day, Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first. It was a decent batting track on offer at Kennington Oval in London, which is the home ground of Surrey. Considering both Somerset openers were left-handers, home team skipper Rory Burns decided to open the bowling with Ravichandran Ashwin, who has an enviable record against southpaws.
Openers Devon Conway (21) and Steven Davies (42) played the off-spinner cautiously and managed to negate his threat. Despite going wicketless in the early overs, Ashwin bowled tight lines consistently and helped his peers pick up the wickets of openers at the other end.
Just about when the partnership between Lammonby and Somerset skipper James Hildreth began building up, Ashwin broke the stand by castling Lammonby with a beautiful delivery. It was his side's third wicket of the innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin has also represented Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire in the past
Surrey is the third County team represented by the Indian off-spinner so far. Ravichandran Ashwin previously played for Worcestershire in 2017 and Nottinghamshire County in the 2019 edition.
In four matches for Worcestershire, Ashwin picked up 20 wickets at an average of 29.15, including two 5-wicket hauls, with best figures of 5/68. He bettered this performance in his second County Championship stint as he took 34 wickets in five matches for Nottinghamshire. Ashwin's average for Notts was a commendable 24.58 and he also picked up four 5-wicket hauls with 6/69 as his best figures.
The Indian team management will hope the off-spinner can use this County stint to get acclimatized to bowling with Duke's ball in English conditions. It is bound to help Ashwin perform well in India's upcoming five-Test series against England.