Services fumble against Delhi pacemen

New Delhi: Services were bundled out for 141 in their first innings against Delhi on the opening day of the four day North Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Harbaksh Singh stadium here today. At close Delhi were 61 for one with Ashu Dani (29) and Ashish Malhotra (14) at the crease.

Hostile bowling by the Delhi medium pacers gave a hard time to the Services batsmen. Ashish Nehra was the pick of the bowlers as he accounted for five wickets giving away 25 runs. He was supported by some disciplined bowling from Amit Bhandari and Rahul Sanghvi> Nehra inflicted early damage when he had Sarabjeet Singh (0) caught by Vijay Dahiya in his second over. He struck again, trapping Narender Singh (11) in front of the wickets with the total at 23.

Rahul Sanghvi removed Abu Eric (11) off his very first ball, caught by Nehra in the covers. After three wickets had gone down for 39, seasoned campaigner Pankaj Maitrey (28) and skipper Sanjay Verma (37) put on 61 runs for the fourth wicket to steady their innings. However, Verma's departure to a quick stumping by Dahiya off Sanghvi started a collapse, with none of the batsmen who followed, with the exception of G.S.Thapa (20*), reaching double figures.

The Services innings folded up 15 minutes after tea. Delhi began their innings on a confident note but lost opener Vijay Dahiya (16) through a brilliant diving catch by wicketkeeper Sarabjeet Singh off the bowling of Syed Javed.