Though the match meandered along to a tame draw, Central Zone entered thesemifinals of the Inter-Zonal CK Nayudu Trophy Under-19 tournament on thebasis of their 27-run first innings lead over East Zone in the quarterfinalencounter at the Barabati

Staff Reporter22-Jan-2001Though the match meandered along to a tame draw, Central Zone entered thesemifinals of the Inter-Zonal CK Nayudu Trophy Under-19 tournament on thebasis of their 27-run first innings lead over East Zone in the quarterfinalencounter at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday.Opting to bat first on the opening day on Friday, Central Zone progressedslowly to 158 for 7 at close of play. The highlight of the innings was apatient 66 by opener Surinder Singh. However, none of the other batsmenmade an impact. He was the seventh batsman to be dismissed at the fag endof the day, caught by A Hashmi off SS Lahari. During a 326-minute stay atthe crease, Surinder Singh faced 218 balls and hit nine boundaries. CentralZone lasted for 16 more overs on the second day before they were bowled outfor 178. SS Lahari (3 for 63) and S Ali (3 for 41) were the pick of thebowlers.But when it was East Zone’s turn to bat, Surinder Singh returned to tormentthe East Zone batsmen to finish with 5 for 41. East Zone fell shy of leadby just 27. Only four of their batsmen managed to reach double figures withA Hashmi topscoring with 42.Central Zone in their second innings fared slightly better, scoring 194.Surinder Singh (60) was again the mainstay of the batting. He was ablyassisted by opening partner SS Dholpure (31) and skipper A Kapoor (38). Setto score 222 for a win with not even a session of play left on the finalday, East Zone, in 15 overs, made 62 runs for three wickets.In the three day semifinals, which commence on January 24, Central playNorth Zone while West Zone meet South Zone.