East wins a battle among equals

East Zone won a battle among equals against South Zone by 31 runs in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy Women's tournament at the Southern Railways Ground in Chennai on Thursday.

Having to score 190 for their first win, the South openers Vanitha (58 off 83 balls) and Manjula (18 off 29 balls) started in a spirited fashion. The injured Vanitha especially picked both Jhulan and Babusha for three bouddaries in their first overs. Though south proceeded to a score of 33 rin the 6th over, the East was equal to the task on the field. Their fielding looked much improved after he first four days of the competition.

The first wicket to fall was that of Manjula, in the ninth over when Kavitha had her bowled when trying to plat across. Then Karuna joined Kavitha, and Kavitha carried on with her stroke filled innings. She kept finding the gaps at will and the boundaries as well. She bisected the field with some good shots in front of the wicket and was never afraid to go over the top. She reached her half-century with the help of her seventh boundary hit past the long on.

Then Karuna, trying to emulate her partner, pulled seema singh over square leg and the very next ball was castled trying the same shot when it was not there to be hit. The match was heading south?s way, when in a needless run out saw the end of Vanitha's innings. This created panic in the South ranks and there was hesitation in the running and atrocious shot selection by the batswomen.

Immediately after the fall of Vanitha, Harsha gave a simple catch to kavitha at point. Then there was the usual procession of players with Sudharani, Kamakshi, Laxmi, Nivedita, Nooshan and Mamta all falling by the way side. The ninth wicket pair of Nooshan and Mamta adding 26 runs in 8.5 overs prolonged the inevitable. But the match was well truly pocketed by East in the 46th over with a difference of 35 runs.

Earlier, at the start of the match, both the East and South were searching for their first win in the tournament. The east openers Neetu Singh (31 off 47 balls) and Kavitha Roy (70 off 145 balls) got a good start after winning the toss and electing to bat. Thanks to some despicable bowling and fielding standards set by South the two added 58 runs in 19.1 overs. Neetu in particular kept sending the balls to the out field for some easy runs and especially Swarnalaxmi. After a fruitful opening partnership Neetu was adjudged leg before off the bowling of Nooshan.

This made way for Chandrabarti (42 off 76 balls) to join Kavitha in the 20th over. The two started milking the bowling by predominantly employing the sweep early on during the partnership. They capitalized on the inferior bowling of south, which never threatened to look penetrative. Moreover the wide gaps present in the field gave ample opportunities for Chandrabarti and Kavitha to pick the south attack for some easy runs. Singles flowed from their bats so much so that a boundary came by only after 18.4 overs.

Kavitha who was the backbone of the East innings reached her halfcentury in 129 balls. The second wicket partnership between Chandrabarti and Kavitha, of 100 runs in 24.4 over came to an end when Chandrabarti was stumped off nooshan for 42 runs. Then east lost Kavitha almost immediately for a neatly compiled 70 runs in 145 balls.

The start of the end overs saw the south Zone fielding go from bad to worse. The south conceeded far too many over throws. But in trying to increase the scoring rate Rumeli, Geetha, Babasha and Dhanmanjari were all run out due to some silly running and the east innings finished with 189 for 8 in the allotted 50 overs.