Brilliant allround performance by Biswajit Bhowmick

Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium, Agartala was the venue for the Vijay Merchant Trophy East Zone League between Tripura and Sikkim. The match belonged to Tripura allrounder R Bhowmick as he single handedly destroyed Sikkim bowling and batting. In a remarkable display of all-round abilities, Biswajit Bhowmick opened the innings for Tripura and scored an unbeaten 157, which included 19 fours and 2 sixes. He added 135 for the third wicket with J Choudhury (59) enabling Tripura to declare their first innings at 300/7. Sikkim were bowled out for 87 in their first innings as Bhowmick claimed three of the middle order batsmen to end with an enviable analysis of 15-8-18-3. He was well supported with the ball by A Dey who picked up four wickets for 32 runs. Bhowmick was not done with Sikkim, he went on to take four wickets in the second innings to finish with the match figures of 34-15-42-7. Bhowmick also had a catch in the first innings to make it a memorable match, so early in his cricketing life. Tripura collected eight points and Sikkim none.

Orissa played host to Assam at the Engineering College Ground, Cuttak. Assam won the toss and chose to have a bat first. They did not fare too well as Orissa bowled them out for 159. S Burman made 76 of the runs for Assam in 78 balls with a six and 12 fours. Orissa pacer B Mohanty had a dream spell to finish with 22-11-25-5. Assam bowlers were made to look like easy meat as Orissa batsmen flayed at their bowling to declare at 328/5. Skipper SP Priyadarshan made a responsible century of 103 (11 fours) as wicket keeper P Pradhan made a breezy 50 not out. They shared a fourth wicket stand of 102. Assam started their second innings trying to save the match, but they failed. Assam were bowled out for 110 as they lost by an innings and 59 runs. G Sahoo and SK Jahangir shared the bowling honours by picking four wickets each. Orissa took all eight points and Assam none.

In a closely contested match between Bihar and Bengal at East Calcutta District Sports Council Ground, Calcutta, the fortunes kept swinging from one team to the other and in the end Bengal emerged winners by six wickets. Winning the toss and electing to bat first Bihar made 157 in 59.4 overs. Opener Daljeet Singh made 41 and Raisat Ali picked up three wickets in Bihar's first innings. Bengal didn't do any better with the bat as they were bowled out for 144 in 65.1 overs conceding the first innings lead to Bihar. Bengal were destroyed by captain Ashad Iqbal (23-13-30-5). Bihar started their second innings with a lead of 13 and were 92/0 in the 51st over. Opener A Kumar Singh made 64 to top score for Bihar. SS Biswas had other ideas for Bengal as he ran through the Bihar innings and finished with the enviable figures of 24-14-21-6 which finished Bihar's innings at 145 in the 85th over. Set a target of 159 in the last innings to win the match, Bengal couldn't have got a worser start as they were reduced to 47/3 in the 30th over. Another twist came to the story with a brilliant partnership of 92 in 31.3 overs between Bengal captain A Chakraborthy and S Kundu. Chakraborthy was eventually dismissed for 47 but S Kundu with a gem of an unbeaten innings of 54 which included two massive sixes and seven fours and SM Ghosh took Bengal to victory. Bengal took all eight points leaving from the match. Bihar had to go home with no points regretting at a lost opportunity.