Haryana have collected 19 points from their four matches so far and are third behind leaders Punjab (32) and Delhi (26). Services who have gathered 16 points from their four games, on the other hand, desperately need an outright win over Haryana to make it to the next stage.

The inclement weather in the Capital over the last 10 days, thus, seems to be inclined to favour the visitors more than the hosts. With foggy conditions persisting, it is unlikely that the match will see the entire six hours of play on all the four days. That has been the factor worrying the Services team management.

``We are up against the weather although the boys are all keyed up to take on the Haryana team,'' said Services coach R K Ohri today, after the two teams had their training session at the match venue. ``The weather God seems to be against us because we need full eight points against Haryana to qualify. A draw will not suffice,'' he said.

Despite the long lay-off (almost 40 days) the team had after its last league game (against Himachal at the same venue), the Services team has been in good nick. It played a two-day and a one-day friendly games against the Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium earlier in the week. ``All our players are available and fit,'' Ohri said.

Yadav Joins Four Square: Haryana will be led by dashing batsman and wicketkeeper Vijay Yadav, who has recently joined `Four Square' in Delhi as manager of its sportsgoods division. With a strong batting line-up, that includes Jatinder Singh, Amarjeet Kaypee, Rajesh Puri, Dhanraj Singh and Shafique Khan and a bowling attack consisting of Vineet Jain, Pradeep Jain and Pankaj Thakur, Haryana seem confident of putting it across the Services.

``The weather could be the only factor in our way,'' said Yadav. The one-day game between the two teams on Friday will only be of academic interest as Punjab have already qualified for next year's Wills Trophy. But, Haryana cannot afford to take the game lightly and will be looking to avenge the defeat suffered at the hands of Services last year at Faridabad.

Jethi, Kuldeep star in Delhi win
An enterprising 193-run opening-wicket stand between Karun Jethi (162 not out: 20x4, 1x6, 115 balls) and Kuldeep (60) helped hosts Delhi thrash ed Tamil Nadu by a huge margin of 194 runs to enter the semi-final of Vinoo Mankad Trophy (u-16) tournament match at Bharat Nagar grounds here today, as part of the National School Games.

Batting first, the hosts amassed 280 for the loss of Kuldeep's wicket in the reduced 35 overs. In reply, Tamil Nadu were shot out for 86 in 30.1 overs. Sandeep, Sahil, Mayank and Vivek shared the wickets.

In another quarter-final, Haryana beat Bhar by three wickets at Paschim Vihar.

Brief Scores: Delhi: 280 for 1 in 35 overs (Karun Jethi 162 not out, Kuldeep 60, Sushil 27 not out). Tamil Nadu: 86 all out in 30.1 overs (Sandeep 3 for 24, Vivek 2 for 8, Sahil Khullar 3 for 6, Mayank 2 for 26).

Bihar: 98 for 9 in 20 overs (Israrul Haque 43, Kundan Kumar 26, Sunil Chaudhary 3 for 7, Vijay Tomar 2 for 14). Haryana: 99 for 7 in 19.3 overs (Sandeep Kharab 22, Gaurav Gupta 20, Nachiketa Pandey 2 for 21, Ishrarul Haque 2 for 16).