South Zone spinners have England in a twirl

South Zone spinners Balaji and Faiq ripped through England's batting and shared eight wickets between themselves as the visitors folded up for 183 in their first innings on the second day of the three-day under-19 cricket match in Madras.

At close, South Zone were 43 for one, with T S Suman batting on 39. Opener Shashank Nag was out for zero, caught by Kadeer Ali off Panesar.

Earlier, South declared its first innings at the overnight score of 275 for eight.

They are now 135 runs ahead.

When the visitors began their reply, they were in trouble straightaway, losing three wickets for 63 by lunch. Opening batsman J M Sadler and Kadeer Ali, who came in at the fall of Nicky Peng (11), stayed on course for 12 overs, adding 29 runs for the second wicket.

After Sadler was caught at slip by Taher Hussain off Shankara Rao for 32 (73 balls, four fours), Ali (13) too made his exit with the addition of four runs, leaving England at 64 for 3.

Balaji and Faiq then held sway. Balaji picked two quick wickets, that of G J Muchall (14) and Ian Pattison (19), to reduce England to 100 for 5.

Captain M A Wallace and C T Tremlett then tried to salvage the situation, but Balaji scalped Wallace, clean bowling him for 25. The two put on 57 for the sixth wicket in 11.5 overs.

Faiq had Tremlett clean bowled for 49 (120 balls, four fours). Then three batsmen -- Ferley, Hogg and Panesar -- failed to score as the innings folded up.

Balaji claimed four wickets for 54 runs, off 22 overs, while Faiq claimed four for 40 off 22.4 overs.

Mail Cricket Editor