Shillong, Feb 22: East Jaintia Hills and North Garo Hills find themselves in the lead in their respective matches of the Meghalaya Cricket Association’s Inter-District U-23 Men’s Cricket Tournament today.
In Zone 1, EJH, the newest district association to become affiliated to the MCA, won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 164 all out in their first innings against All Jaintia Cricket Association. Passang Sherpa (61) struck a half-century, while Daowam Passah (4/14) and Mewada Shylla (3/36) returned the best figures for AJCA.
Dathrangki managed 34 for AJCA, but the team were ultimately dismissed for 74, yielding a first innings lead of 90 to EJH, who ripped through the opposition batting largely thanks to Saroj Raut, who claimed five wickets for just two runs in six overs.
Before stumps EJH reached 35/2 in 17 overs, with Peterson Sangma (18) scoring more than half of those runs, a lead of 125.
Over in Mendipathar, in Zone 2, South Garo Hills batted first but were skittled for 44 by North Garo Hills, whose Sanju Rabha scalped five wickets (5/8).
NGH then scored at more than four an over in their 245 all out. Aditya Singh top-scored with 65, while Drabest Marak (45) and Gilseng Momin (34) also contributed a good number of runs. Two SGH bowlers picked up three wickets each – Ralseng Marak (3/17) and Chengsrang Marak (3/53).
SGH then began their second innings trailing by 201 and at stumps they had gotten to 59/6, still needing 142 runs to make NGH bat again. Arien Bonchang provided 42 of the 59 SGH runs in a strong performance but he was dismissed a little over four overs before stumps. Gilseng Momin (3/7) has the best figures so far.
Meanwhile, yesterday East Garo Hills overcame a first innings deficit to record a spectacular six-wicket victory over Tura District Cricket Association B in their Zone 2 match.
TDCA-B won the toss and elected to bat first in Mendipathar, but they were bowled out for 121, with Sengkam Sangma top-scoring with 35. Prakash bagged 3/34 for EGH.
EGH were then themselves dismissed for only 96, with Prakash Prasad making 44 and Rashidul taking 2/45.
TDCA-B thus went into their second innings leading by 25 runs but could only manage 93 all out, with Prakash this time returning figures of 6/37, leaving East Garo a target of 119 for victory. Clever Sangma scored 44 this time to help his side to victory in 43.3 overs.