da dobrowin： Opening batsman Connor Williams with a superb unbeaten 96, steeredBaroda to a four wicket victory over Saurashtra in the West Zone RanjiTrophy one day match played at the GSFC ground in Baroda on Saturday
Santhosh S18-Nov-2000Opening batsman Connor Williams with a superb unbeaten 96, steeredBaroda to a four wicket victory over Saurashtra in the West Zone RanjiTrophy one day match played at the GSFC ground in Baroda on Saturday.Chasing Saurashtra’s score of 225 for eight in 50 overs, Barodareached their target with five balls to spare.Put in to bat by Baroda skipper Tushar Arothe, Saurashtra got off to abad start. Rakesh Patel bowled Sudhir Tanna, who had scratched aroundfor 19 balls without scoring a run.Captain Sitanshu Kotak, who came in at No 3, played a responsibleinnings of 68 off 106 balls with three boundary hits before he wascaught by wicketkeeper Milap Mewada off the bowling of Rakesh Patel. Aseries of valuable partnerships helped Saurashtra to maintain areasonable run rate. But it was Sudip Mehta who really gave the runrate a big boost. Coming in at No 7, he hit a whirlwind knock of 51off just 30 balls with the help of six fours and a six. before he wasout in the final over. Rakesh Patel (3/32) and Hamid Ali (3/40) werethe pick of the bowlers. Ajith Bhiote bowled a miserly spell of 10overs that cost him only 26 runs.Former Indian player Atul Bedade gave Baroda an explosive start byhitting 24 off 15 balls with five hits to the ropes. He was out at 32in the sixth over. Baroda lost Himanshu Jadhav 12 quickly but a thirdwicket partnership of 71 runs from 14 overs between Jacob Martin andWilliams stepped up the run rate. Martin was out for 30 (40 balls).Harendra Jani, who dismissed Martin, picked up two more wickets butWilliams stood like a rock and guided Baroda to victory. Towards theend, Williams received able support from Darshan Mulherkar who hit 22off as many deliveries with two fours. The two added 37 runs for theunbroken seventh wicket off 6.3 overs. Harendra Jani finished withthree for 50 from his ten overs.