Morris, Jaffer help Mumbai make light work of Gujarat

Morris, Jaffer help Mumbai make light work of Gujarat
Express News Service

VADODARA, NOV 21: Mumbai openers Robin Morris and Wasim Jaffer with scintillating knocks powered Mumbai to a 9-wicket victory over Gujarat, setting up a virtual final with Vadodara, in the West Zone One-Day Tournament for the Ramakant Desai Trophy at the GSFC ground hereon Tuesday.

The match at the Motibaug ground on Wednesday between Mumbai and Vadodara, with both having won all their three matches, will not only decide who qualifies for the Wills Trophy but, as it turns out, will be the only real contest in the tournament which has mostly seen one-sided games.

Having put Gujarat in to bat, Mumbai ripped the lambs apart, drilling it into them that it would take more than a solitary victory here and there for them to force other teams in the zone to start taking them more seriously, sending them reeling to 149 all out.

The Mumbai opening bowlers, Paras Mhambray and Santosh Saxena, were not too successful in their first spells, with first change bowler Amit Dani scalping Amrish Kotecha in the 11th over of the innings. And Nielsh Modi and Niraj Patel seemed to be doing the repair job well when Robin Morris in his second spell trapped the opener lbw for 27.

Morris started off shakily, but settled down to gain his confidence and gradually Jaffer’s aggression rubbed off on him too. When he launched out he spared no bowler and it was like raining sixes. But he literally hit Niraj Patel out of the attack, carting him twice in his first over for sixes. That was the only over the left arm bowler got.

But Jaffer, with victory just round the corner, missed the line of a Tejas Varsani delivery while stepping out and Pallav Vora was quick behind the stumps.Vinod Kambli joined Morris and together they completed the formalities.

SCOREBOARD

GUJARAT: Amrish Kotecha c Kiran Powar c Amit Dani 15 (46m, 32b, 2x4), Nilesh Mosi lbw Robin Morris 27 (95m, 67b, 3x4), Niraj Patel c&b Ramesh Powar 18 (53m, 47b, 2x4), Tejas Varsani c Amol Muzumdar b Ramesh Powar 3 (19m, 12b), Kirat Damani not out 27 (99m, 65b, 2x4), Pathik Patel c S Saxena b S Bahutule 8 (13m, 15b, 2x4), Pallav Vora c Samir Dighe b S Bahutule 2 (5m, 6b), Bhavin Mehta c K Powar b S Bahutule 28 (39m, 27b, 4x4), Vivek Parikh b P Mhambray 0 (4m, 5b), H Majumdar c&b P Mhambray 12 (14m, 15b, 2x4), Lalit Patel b P Mhambray 0 (4m, 2b) Extras: (lb-1, nb-5, w-3) 9 TOTAL: 149 all out in 48 overs.
Fall of wickets:1-27 (Kotecha), 2-66 (Modi), 3-66 (Niraj), 4-71 (Varsani), 5-83 (Pathik), 6-89 (P Vora), 7-132 (B Mehta), 8-134 (V Parikh), 9-148 (Majumdar)

Bowling: Paras Mhambray 10-2-17-3, Santosh Saxena 7-1-24-0, Amit Dani 6-0-26-1, Siraj Bahutule 10-0-34-3, Robin Morris 6-0-14-1, Ramesh Powar 9-2-33-2

MUMBAI: Robin Morris Not Out 67 (103m, 67b, 2x4, 5x6), Wasim Jaffer st Pallav Vora b Tejas Varsani 61 (80m, 59b, 9x4, 2x6), Vinod Kambli Not Out 17 (22m, 19b, 2x4) Extras: (lb-1, nb-1, w-3) 5 TOTAL: 150 for 1 in 24 overs
Fall of wickets:1-118 (Jaffer)

Bowling: Hitesh Majumdar 5-0-28-0, Vivek Parikh 3-0-13-0, Lalit Patel 2-0-11-0, Tejas Varsani 7-0-39-1, Bhavin Mehta 5-0-41-0, Niraj Patel 1-0-17-0, Kirat Damani 1-1-0-0

Saurashtra lose again

VADODARA: Maharashtra registered their first win while Saurashtra’s woes continued in the Ramakant Desai Ranji Trophy one-day series here on Tuesday. Winless Saurashtra, who are having a nightmarish season lost the match by 98 runs.

Put into bat, Maharashtra began their innings shakily losing opener Jaideep Narse (0) in the very second ball of the game. He was bowled by Rajesh Garsondia. Narse’s wicket bought Hrishkesh Kanitkar to the crease, who with fantastic batting prowess enabled his team to take a full command over Saurashtra. Kanitkar was on song as he scored the first century of the tournament. His 133 came in just 106 balls and had eight fours and four sixes.

Saurashtra batting second, started disastrously losing six wickets in just 48 runs on board. However, Manoj Parmar with a circumspect 50 runs partnership with H Parsanna and later an unbeaten 53 runs partnership for the ninth wicket stand helped his team hang on till 50 overs. Parmar scored and unbeaten 69 of 114b in 114 minutes.

Brief Scores: Maharashtra: 280-8 off 50 overs(Hrishkesh Kanitkar 133 (102b, 8x4s, 4x6s), Abhijit Kale 56, R Garsondia 26-3, Sitanshu Kotak 5-0-58-4) bt Saurashtra: 182-9 in 50 overs (Hitesh Parsanna 35, Manoj Parmar 69 n.o., Samir Shaikh 4-38, Niranjan Godbole 2-30).