West beat North to win Deodhar Trophy
Guwahati: A professional batting performance by West Zone helped them clinch the Deodhar Trophy as they cruised to a comfortable five-wicket victory over North Zone in the final here on Wednesday.
Put into bat, North Zone made a commendable 289 for eight in 50 overs courtesy Unmukt Chand’s scratchy 88 and Yuvraj Singh’s useful 67. In reply, Ambati Rayudu anchored the chase with a well-made unbeaten 78 as West successfully reached the target in 48.2 overs. It was skipper Parthiv Patel, who started the chase in right earnest hitting 52-ball-58 while Kedar Jadhav with a punishing knock
of 57 off only 43 deliveries also played his part to perfection. Young Manprit Juneja (56) also hit a half century as a collective effort by the batsmen was responsible in the title triumph despite poor bowling and shoddy fielding effort. North captain Gautam Gambhir’s ploy of opening the bowling with young off-spinner Parveez Rasool worked partially as he got rid of Vijay Zol who was adjudged leg-before trying to play the sweep shot. However Parthiv and his statemate Juneja added 84 runs for the second wicket in 14 overs. While Parthiv found the gaps with ease hitting Rasool for three boundaries in an over, Juneja also looked solid as he punished the loose balls.
Jarvis strikes to rein in West Indies
Bridgetown (Barbados): Two wickets from Kyle Jarvis gave Zimbabwe a boost on a tough opening day in the first Test as they restricted the West Indies to 18 for two at stumps here at the Kensington Oval. Despite a battling topscore of 50 from opening batsman Tino Mawoyo, none of the other Zimbabwe batsmen managed an innings of note to justify their captain Brendan Taylor’s surprising decision to bat first on Tuesday, and were eventually bowled out for 211. Taylor’s call caught many unawares, especially in the context of a West Indies team playing three frontline fast bowlers and given that this was the tourists’ first Test match for almost 14 months. Yet it was spin, or at least slow bowling that accounted for the bulk of the Zimbabwean wickets, Marlon Samuels claiming four for 13 — his best-ever test innings figures — and Shane Shillingford marking his return to the Test side with three for 58.
Agencies