Kanitkar, Martin pile the
runs for West

West Zone score 310 for three at close West Zone were sitting pretty on 310 for the loss of three wickets at close, in their first innings against South Zone, on the first day of the four-day Duleep Trophy cricket match at the Lalbhai Contractor stadium, in Surat on Thursday.

Jacob Martin (85) and southpaw Vinod Kambli (48) were at the crease when stumps were drawn.

Electing to bat, West Zone began on a shaky note, losing opener Connor Williams when the scoreboard read only 58 runs. But then Hrishikesh Kanitkar joined the other opener, Wasim Jaffer, and steadied the innings. Together, they added 43 runs for the second wicket before Jaffer departed, caught by South skipper Rahul Dravid off the bowling of Raju. Jaffer made 49.

Jacob Martin joined Kanitkar and took the team out of danger by adding 129 runs for third wicket.

West lost its third wicket when Kanitkar was caught by Dodda Ganesh off Sunil Joshi. Kanitkar fell just five runs short of his century.

Southpaw Vinod Kambli joined Martin at the centre and together they took the team to a commanding score.

For South Zone, Sunil Joshi claimed two wickets while Venkatesh Raju chipped in with one.

Scoreboard

West Zone (1st innings):

C Williams C Hemang Badani b Sunil Joshi 20
Wasim Jaffer C Rahul Dravid B V Raju 49
Hrishikesh Kanitkar C Doda Ganesh B S Joshi 95
Jacob Martin batting 85
Vinod Kambli batting 48
Extras: (b 4, lb 6, nb 3) 13
Total: (For three wickets) 310
Fall of Wickets: 1-58, 2-101, 3-230.
Bowling: Doda Ganesh 18-6-61-0, Shahbuddin 22-7-64-0, Sunil Joshi 18-1-62-2, Ashish Kapoor 21-1-71-0, V Raju 11-2-42-1.

Mail Cricket Editor