da dobrowin： The titans of Indian domestic cricket, West and South Zones, met atthe Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat on Thursday with some of thebiggest names in the game locking horns in this Duleep Trophy match
Staff Reporter18-Jan-2001The titans of Indian domestic cricket, West and South Zones, met atthe Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat on Thursday with some of thebiggest names in the game locking horns in this Duleep Trophy match.West Zone took the honours on the first day which they ended on asatisfactory 310 for three wickets off 90 overs. Vinod Kambli (48) andJacob Martin (85) were at the crease at close of play.Skipper Nayan Mongia began the four day game on a winning note andasked South Zone to parade their bowling skills. His openers did notdisappoint the skipper’s decision as they set out to negotiate the newball. Both Connor Williams and Wasim Jaffer played the new ball attackof Dodda Ganesh and KS Shahabuddin comfortably.The duo were together for 58 runs before Sunil Joshi had Williamscaught by Hemang Badani in the 24th over of the day. The dismissal ofthe southpaw brought Hrishikesh Kanitkar to the crease to join theMumbai opener. Kanitkar and Jaffer added 43 runs in 9.5 overs for thesecond wicket. The second left arm spinner in South’s armoury,Venkatapathy Raju, scalped Jaffer who missed his half-century by asolitary run. Jaffer played 99 balls with six hits to the fence.Kanitkar and Martin played sensibly and returned to the pavilionwithout any further damage at the lunch interval. West Zone were 110for the loss of both openers in 37 overs, with Martin on 14 andKanitkar on 21.After the lunch interval, Kanitkar and Martin batted out the sessiontaunting and tantalising the South spinners. None of the bowlers wereable to have any effect on the proceedings in the session. The Westbatsmen added 97 runs in 30 overs after the lunch interval, returningto enjoy their tea break without any further damages as the Southbowlers toiled hard to get a breakthrough. West were comfortableplaced at 207 for two at tea, Kanitkar on 79 and Martin on 51.The century partnership came to an end in the sixth over of the finalsession of the day. Kanitkar became overambitious as he attempted tohoick Joshi for a six. He mistimed the stroke and was gobbled by DoddaGanesh on the boundary. He missed out on a century as he was back inthe pavilion for 95 off 150 balls, with 13 boundaries and a solitarysix. The pair had added 129 runs for the third wicket off 39.5 overs.One southpaw was replaced by another, as the explosive Vinod Kambliwalked in to join Martin at the crease. Kambli was his destructiveself as he went about plundering the spinners all around the ground.He amassed a quickfire 48 runs from 53 balls with eight hits to thefence and one trademark six. Kambli added 80 runs off 17.2 overs forthe unbeaten fourth wicket partnership with Martin as stumps werecalled.