Sport - Cricket

Andhra in command

CUTTACK: Andhra snatched a vital 39-run first innings lead against Orissa and ended the second day at 67 for two in the second innings to enjoy an overall lead of 106 in the Ranji Trophy Super League Group ‘B’ match at the Barabati Stadium here on Saturday.

At stumps, A. Satya Kumar Varma and skipper Mannava Prasad were unbeaten on 20 and 15 runs respectively to continue the battle on Sunday in a match that would certainly produce a result.

The visiting team would have been happier had not their openers — Hemal Watekar and Prasad Reddy — thrown their wickets. Watekar, who began well by smashing Debasis Mohanty through the off-side by stepping out, tried to hoist left-arm pacer Pritamjit Das and was castled for 19. Reddy fell to a loose shot, edging P. Jayachandra behind the wickets for six.

Orissa, resuming at 21 for no loss, made its intention clear by occupying the crease without trying to accelerate the scoring rate. It lost wickets at regular intervals. Siba Sundar Das (22) and Subit Biswal (12) departed before lunch, which was taken at 77 for three in 46 overs.

The procession continued in the post lunch session, triggered by off-spinner Hemal Watekar. The 29-year-old removed Niranjan Behera (31), Pravanjan Mullick (11), P. Jayachandra (3) and Rashmi Ranjan Das (8) to break the back of Orissa and put his team on way to take the first innings lead. Watekar registered his best bowling figures in the National championship with a haul of five for 32.

The scores:

Andhra — 1st innings: 179.

Orissa — 1st innings: B.S. Pati lbw b Gnaneswara Rao 6, S.S. Das c Pradeep b Vijay Kumar 22, N. Behera lbw b Watekar 31, S, Biswal c Kalyankrishna b Shankara Rao 12, P. Mullick c Varma b Watekar 11, P. Jayachandra c Varma b Watekar 3, R.R. Das c Vijay Kumar b Watekar 8, H. Das st Prasad b Watekar 30, D. Mohanty c Watekar b Suresh 5, S. Khatua lbw b Gnaneswara Rao 0, P. Das (not out) 1; Extras (b-10, nb-1): 11; Total (in 76.4 overs): 140.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-41, 3-62, 4-83, 5-90, 6-93, 7-100, 8-118, 9-131.

Andhra bowling: Kalyankrishna 5-1-12-0, Vijay Kumar 9-4-14-1, Shankara Rao 16-12-15-1, Md. Faiq 13-3-19-0, Gnaneswara Rao 8-3-15-2, Suresh 11-5-22-1, Watekar 12.4-3-32-5, L.N.P. Reddy 2-1-1-0.

Andhra — 2nd innings: H. Watekar b P. Das 19, L.N.P. Reddy c H. Das b Jayachandra 6, A.S.K. Varma (batting) 20, M.S.K. Prasad (batting) 15; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-1): 7; Total (for two wkts. in 21 overs): 67.

Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-31.

Orissa bowling: Mohanty 5-2-17-0, P. Das 5-2-6-1, Jayachandra 6-1-16-1, Mullick 2-0-14-0, Behera 2-0-6-0, Khatua 1-0-2-0.

Other scores: Super league: Maharashtra 310 in 110 overs (Y. Venugopala Rao 112, S.V. Bahutule 74, S.A. Agarkar 46, V.S. Malik four for 69) and 41 for two in 15 overs v HP 83 in 51 overs (S. Bahutule five for 29), at Dharamshala.

Mumbai 166 and 154 for two in 44 overs (S. Kukreja 89 not out) v Delhi 252 in 86.4 overs (G. Gambhir 89, R. Bhatia 49), in Mumbai.

Punjab 381 in 105 overs (U. Kaul 162, P. Dharmani 46, R. Inder 45, Charanjit Singh 40, P. Kumar four for 60) v UP 352 for seven in 66 overs (R.P. Srivastava 40, M. Kaif 66, S. Raina 123, V.R.V. Singh five for 102), at Chandigarh.

Saurashtra 307 in 120.4 overs (S.H. Kotak 58, J.N. Shah 71, R.V. Dhurv 46, Pankaj Singh four for 91) v Rajasthan 155 for six in 55 overs (G. Khoda 44), at Jaipur.

Plate league: Haryana 193 v Railways 272 for five in 109.4 overs (S. Bangar 64, S. Sanyal 40), at Rohtak.

Gujarat 437 in 137.4 overs (N.K. Patel 145, B.D. Thaker 121, N.D. Modi 51, S.K. Trivedi 51 not out, A.K. Mohanty five for 113) v Services 40 for six in 26.4 overs (M.B. Parmar four for 14), in New Delhi.

Vidarbha 315 in 132. 4 overs (F.Y. Fazal 110, A.S. Naidu 87, T.K. Chanda four for 68) v Tripura 80 for five in 45 overs, at Nagpur.

Jharkand 105 and 278 for seven in 90 overs (S. Ghosh 43, M. Vardhan 79, S. Tiwary 64 not out) v Jammu and Kashmir 133 in 33.3 overs, in Jammu.

Assam 198 and 152 in 49.3 overs (S. Suresh 45) v Kerala 85 in 52.2 overs (D.S. Goswami four for 24, S. Suresh four for 23) and 11 for no loss in 4 overs, at Silchar.

Madhya Pradesh 475 in 131.5 overs (N.V. Ojha 63, Jain S. Saxena 103, M. Ali 88, A. Jhadav 93 not out, S.S. Bandekar six for 144) v Goa 145 for three in 45 overs, at Margao.

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