Saha and Bose guide East to 68-run victory

East Zone 313 (Halhadar 93, Aiyappa 5-84) and 163 (Halhadar 52*) beat South Zone 204 (Vijay 46, Saha 4-47) and 204 (Badrinath 57, Saha 3-56) by 68 runs
Scorecard

Ranadeb Bose and Tushar Saha shared six second-innings wickets between them to help East Zone register a 68-run victory against South Zone just after lunch on the final day at the Wankhede Stadium. South appeared well-placed to chase the target of 273 on the third day, ending at 113 for 3, but a steady fall of wickets to the seamers handed East the initiative and the lower order could do little to stage a recovery.

The overnight pair of captain S Badrinath and Prasad Reddy put South on track, taking the score to 143 before Bose struck twice in successive overs. Badrinath, who scored 57, edged to SS Das at first slip and his Tamil Nadu team-mate R Ashwin, a capable lower-order batsman, was caught by Halhadar Das without scoring. Swapnil Asnodkar was Bose's third victim, before Shib Sankar Paul removed Reddy for 39. South never recovered from that passage of play, when they lost five wickets for 44 runs. The spinners then mopped the tail as South ended with 204, exactly what they had managed in the first innings. Saha, the left-arm spinner, took 3 for 56 to finish with a match tally of seven wickets. Bose finished with innings figures of 3 for 67.

East head to Rajkot for their final league match, against North Zone starting February 11. South ended a disappointing campaign, finishing at the bottom of the table with two defeats.

England Lions 155 (Rashid 40, Pankaj Singh 4-35) and 297 for 5 (Carberry 112, Yardy 57, Mathur 3-25) beat Central Zone 270 (Kaif 64, Richardson 4-50) and 180 (Kaif 42, Onions 3-40) by five wickets
Scorecard

A patient century by Michael Carberry, backed by fifties by Ed Joyce and Michael Yardy, guided England Lions to a comfortable five-wicket win against Central Zone on the final day in Vadodara. The Lions carried on from their spirited reply the previous day and compensated for their disappointing first-innings display of 155, chasing down the target of 296 with ease.

The Lions didn't however get off to the best of starts, losing Yardy for 57 with no addition to their overnight score of 146. Joyce and Carberry then constructed the second-best partnership of the match - 98 - with Joyce scoring 54 off 100 balls. The pair kept Central Zone at bay for more than 30 overs before Sumit Mathur, the medium-pacer, picked up three quick wickets against the run of play. Joyce was the first to go, caught by Mahesh Rawat, followed by Carberry, trapped leg before. Carberry's 112 included 15 fours and a six.

James Foster, who failed to get off the mark, was Rawat's second victim, as the Lions lost three with the addition of five runs, with the score reading 249 for 5.

Jonathan Trott and Adil Rashid shrugged off the jitters and breezed through to the target in less than eight overs, hitting five boundaries each. The Lions now head the Group B table with five points and face West Zone at the same venue on February 11.