East Zone slump to 69 run loss

Overnight rain at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College meant that a damp wicket delayed the start of play between East Zone and West Zone in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi women's cricket tournament on Monday by almost two hours. The wicket was one predominantly of clay and that meant that the time taken to dry up was longer than usual.The match was reduced to a 41 overs a side affair and as it turned out, a low scoring game. West Zone were restricted to 124 off their alloted quota. However, East were bundled out for 55 by some disciplined bowling by West Zone.

While the umpires Gururajan and Sundar made inspection after inspection, the players did some light warm up exercises.

Play finally got underway at 11.30. Winning the toss, the East Zone skipper Pratima Chakravarty elected to take the field.

Opening the bowling for East Zone was medium pacer Zulan. For West, southpaw Arti Vaidya got off the mark off the very first ball, easing a ball on her pads through the on side. Her companion out in the middle was Vaishali Landge.

After a slow start, West Zone lost their first wicket in the 10th over when Arti walked across her stumps and played down the wrong line to a straight ball from first change bowler Babusha. Arti (7) was steady in her stint at the crease. Though the score was just 21, it was hardly a representation of the West Zone effort. The outfield was slow as a result of the overnight rain and boundaries were hard to come by. To compound matters, the East Zone bowlers maintained a good line and length.

A period of slow batting followed, with Vaishali unable to get the ball away into the gaps. She motored on to 19, off what seemed like an inordinate length of time that consumed 54 balls, and was run out attempting a single that was not on.

Though she was slow in going, Vaishali managed to seal up one end. After her dismissal, wickets started to fall at regular intervals. It was only the arrival of the captain, Kalyani Umarani at the crease that brought some hope for the West Zone side. After more than 20 overs had been bowled, Kalyani cracked the first boundary of the innings. Planting her front foot down the wicket, she swung the ball cleanly through the on side.

However, West Zone's joy was short lived. Kalyani, playing down the wrong line, nicked off spinner Saswati Mukherjee to the wicketkeeper. The West Zone skipper had made 20 off 39 balls.

Unfortunately for West Zone they lost wickets at an alarmingly quick rate. From 49/2 they slumped to 90 for 7.

Opening bowler Jhulan Goswami was the most economical bowler, conceding just 13 runs off her six overs. However, it was Saswati who looked the most penetrative of the bowlers. She picked up 3/31 off her nine overs, including the wicket of the West Zone captain.

At the end of their innings, West Zone had 124/9 on the board.

When West came out to defend their modest total, the captain Kalyani Umarani took matters into her own hands. Opening the bowling with her nippy medium pacers she tied up one end. In a move that was designed to surprise, she had off spinner Sonali Chandok partnering her. Sonali bowled a fine spell. Giving the ball copious amounts of flight, she teased the batswomen into making false shots. Unlucky not to strike early she drew first blood in the 8th over. Following that up with more crisp off spinners, Sonali made batting very difficult for the East Zone team. As the overs progressed, they got increasingly bogged down and began to lose wickets at regular intervals. In no time East Zone were reduced to 28/6. After that there was very little any single batswoman could do. Saswati with 14 top scored. Hardly a healhy sign for East Zone.

West Zone's victory was achieved by maintaining good composure throughout the course of the game. Sonali Chandok ended with the splendid figures of 9-3-9-2 and helped skittle out East Zone for just 55 runs.

West Zone captain Kalyani speaking to CricInfo at the end of the match said "we (West Zone) have nothing to lose. We are going all out for a win. The West Zone team will do its best to put up a good show."