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Jolly Rovers beats Grand Slam, enters final

Chennai: Jolly Rovers entered the final of the TNCA first division cricket league, defeating defending champion Grand Slam by nine wickets in the semifinals at CPT-IP, on Tuesday. Jolly Rovers clinched the win an hour after tea on day two.

At MAC, Sreekumar Nair’s century ensured Vijay managed a first-innings score of 402 against India Pistons. In response, Pistons was 68 for three at close.

Trailing by 134, Grand Slam began its second innings with openers K.B. Arun Karthik and E. Aswin easing boundaries regularly through the off side, showing no signs of discomfort against seamers A. Avinash and R. Suthesh. On day one, left armer Suthesh had ripped through Grand Slam’s first innings with eight wickets in 12.3 hostile overs of seam and swing.

Breakthrough

The stand ended at 67 when Aswin, on 35, flung his arms at an innocuous wide delivery from medium pacer V. Subramania Siva, without getting his backfoot across. Soon after, S. Suresh Kumar edged Siva to slip, and Arun Karthik (37) chipped Avinash to cover. Within twelve overs of losing the first wicket, Grand Slam slumped to 102 for six.

K. Sriram (22) and Sunil Oasis (30) ensured that Rovers would bat again with a seventh wicket stand of 45, and M. Raja extended Grand Slam’s total to 193 with a streaky 32, to set Rovers a target of 60, with 27 overs left in the day. It took only 5.4 overs, with S. Vidyut making 27 and S. Badrinath, who smote two straight sixes in one over off off-spinner Suresh Kumar, an unbeaten 29.

Sreekumar to the rescue

In the other semifinal, Sreekumar toiled for more than seven hours and 304 balls for his knock of 146 that helped Vijay recover from a precarious 95 for five. The left-handed Sreekumar’s dogged defence worked well with R. Ashwin’s free-scoring ways on day one for a 104-run sixth wicket partnership. On Tuesday, Sreekumar and M.K. Sivakumar combined for a 148-run seventh wicket stand that included a fruitless first session for India Pistons’ bowlers.

Sreekumar found the boundaries with ease against left-arm spinners C. Suresh and M. Suresh Babu. C. Suresh was dealt with particular severity, despatched for a four through long-on in his very first ball. Sreekumar’s innings was largely chanceless, comprising one six and sixteen fours. His century took his season tally to 533 runs.

Steady support

Sivakumar gave Sreekumar steady support, till the left-hander’s dismissal — snared by off-spinner M. Prabhu off his own bowling — required Sivakumar to better the run-rate. 77 runs came for Vijay in the session after lunch, in 12.1 overs.

Sivakumar cut, swept and pulled for his seven fours. His two sixes — over mid-on and long-on — signalled Vijay’s urgency and thereafter led to his dismissal, bowled for 91. Sivakumar’s wicket — the last of the innings — gave Suresh Babu his first five-wicket haul. He finished with five wickets for 97 runs.

In response, India Pistons batted 33 overs for 68 runs, with opener K.H. Gopinath unbeaten on 46.

The scores:

At CPT-IP: Grand Slam 104 in 31.3 overs (R. Suthesh eight for 33) and 193 in 54.5 overs (V. Subramania Siva five for 68, A. Avinash four for 38) lost to Jolly Rovers 238 in 59.2 overs (J. Gowjith Subash 50, P. Amarnath five for 65) and 63 for one in 5.4 overs.

At MAC: Vijay 402 in 144.1 overs (Sreekumar Nair 146, R. Ashwin 54, M.K. Sivakumar 91, M. Suresh Babu five for 97) vs India Pistons 68 for three in 33 overs (K.H. Gopinath 46 batting).

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