Test discard Shiv Sundar Das' unbeaten ton was the highlight on the final day as the Ranji Trophy plate division cricket match between Orissa and Services ended in a dull draw.

Das' unbeaten 100 helped Orissa post 173 for four in 57 overs in their first innings in reply to Services' 277. The two sides got one point each for the draw.

A substantial time on all the four days of the match at the Palam ground was lost due to bad weather though on the final day, which was a little bright and sunny, 52 overs were bowled.

Orissa, resuming at four for one, lost the second wicket when Rashmi Ranjan Parida was bowled by Fazil Mohammed, who was the most successful bowler for the hosts with three for 48.

Next two batsmen—Sanjay Raul (1) and Prabhanjan Mallick (15) -- did not last long as Orissa slumped to 121 for four.

But Niranjan Behera gave good support to Das with an unbeaten 25 as the duo put on 52 runs for the fifth wicket.

Das' century came in 152 balls and was laced with 13 boundaries.

Scoreboard:

Services Ist Innings: 268

Orissa 1st innings:
S S Das not out              100
Subrata Behera b Mohammed      0
R R Parida b Mohammed         24
S Raul lbw b Mohammed          1
P Mallick b A K Mohanty       15
N Behera not out              25

Extras (lb-3, b-4, w-1)        8

Total (for 4 wkts, 57 overs) 173

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-57, 3-69, 4-121.

Bowling: Ghagh 23-10-51-0, Mohammed 20-5-48-3, Arun Sharma 4-0-24-0, C D Thomson 3-0-12-0, A K Mohanty 7-0-31-1.

Goa gains two points in drawn match

Captain Sitanshu Kotak's ton and useful contribution from Kanaiya Vaghela (83) and Jaydev Shah (86) helped Saurashtra score 379 for 5 on the last day as their Plate B Ranji Trophy match against Goa ended in a draw at Margao on Sunday.

Thus Goa, who took first innings lead gained two points taking their total tally to six points as they finished their league engagements, while Saurashtra finished their league engagements with four points.

Overnight 108 for one in their second innings, Saurashtra who conceded 214-runs first innings lead, batted well in the second innings to deny the host a victory.

No other Goan bowlers except spinner Shadad Jakati who took four wickets, impressed as Saurashtra batsmen dominated the show on the last day with Kotak scoring 118 and shared three partnership with Kamalia (47), Vaghela (83) and Jaydev Shah (86).

Scoreboard:

Saurashtra Ist Innings: 220

Goa Ist Innings: 434

Saurashtra IInd Innings (Overnight 108 for 1):
Kanaiya Vaghela b Jakati           83
Ashok Kamalia c Borker b Jakati    47
Sitanshu Kotak b Jakati           118
Jaydev Shah c Mandar b Jakati      86
Prakesh Bhutt c Dani b Aware       30
Firoz Bambani not out               7
Rakesh Dhruv not out                2

Extras: (lb 1, b 1, nb 4)           6

Total: (For 5 wickets)            379

Fall of wickets: 1-92, 2-164, 3-318, 4-361, 5-375.

Bowling: Avinash Aware 23-9-68-1, Amit Dani 9-1-41-0,Shadab Jakati 40-8-120-4, Anil Naik 4-0-32-0, Nitin Kalekar 34-7-86-0, Robin D'Souza 9-1-25-0, Swapnil Asnodkar 2-0-5-0.

Bihar draws with Tripura, take 2 points

The four-day Ranji Group 'B' match between Bihar and Tripura ended in a tame draw at Jamshedpur on Sunday, nonetheless benefitting Bihar with two points on the consideration of their having taken a first innings lead of 169 runs over their rivals.

Starting with four points each before this match, Bihar have now accumulated six while there is no change in Tripura's tally.

Having been bundled out for a paltry 187 in the first innings by Bihar, which earned two points by virtue of the 169-run lead by putting up a healthy 356 on the board, Tripura in their second outing, looking much more solid and poised, were 233 for six when the match ended in a draw.

Tripura which were 99 for four overnight in the second innings, continued from where they left to be 233 for the loss of only two wickets when the play concluded.

Sandeep Dahad, who was not out on 13, remained unbeaten on 58 while other overnight not out batsman Chetan Sachdev added 21 more runs to his score before holing out in the slips.

The other Tripura wicket to fall was that of Timir Chanda who was bowled for 35 by Sunny Gupta.

For Bihar, spinner Shahid Khan was the most successful bowler by capturing total six Tripura wickets, three each in both the innings.