Martin hits a fine century; Jaffer misses one

By Vijay Lokapally

NAGPUR, JAN. 6. Frustrated appeals, needless show of temper all around, and one sweet knock from Jacob Martin marked the third day of this Duleep Trophy league match at the VCA Stadium here on Saturday.

Despite Martin's century, Central Zone could afford to nurture hopes of grabbing the first innings lead as West finished the day at 364 for six, still 172 runs in arrears.

Cricket never rose above mediocrity, barring the time when Martin took the strike.

The nature of the pitch, the line of Central attack and the tentative West approach combined to produce mundane stuff.

Central missed the services of left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, ideal in such circumstances, but managed to carry its job through Rahul Kanwat, who reaped richer harvest than the regular off- spinner in the side, Kulamani Parida.

Parida wasted his time in needless appealing and energy in straying down the leg side with a packed off-side field.

Not that the Railway off-spinner erred in his task but he ought to have concentrated harder since the team looked up to him, what with leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani failing to make an impression this day.

Resuming at 94 for two, West progressed through the overnight pair of Maritn and Wasim Jaffer.

Runs came in a flurry as Central failed to decide whether to attack or defend in a situation which demanded skillful bowling. Martin stayed positive all through and showed the right kind of approach even as Jaffer flowered to carve a responsible innings, which, ironically, was cut short by a poor shot.

The Martin-Jaffer partnership, worth 141 runs, was the platform on which West built its strong reply. It was cruising, creating dents in the Central planning, when a minor collapse in the afternoon brought the teams on an even stage. In the span of 11 runs, West lost the wickets of Abhijit Kale, Martin and Nayan Mongia to give the opposition a much-needed break but the talented Niraj Patel and Sairaj Bahutule - the latter wanting to make up for his erratic bowling - stayed firm to see the day through.

Jaffer continued to play his shots this morning and at times gave the impression of being in needless hurry to get past the 100- mark.

In one particular over, Parida harrassed the Mumbai opener and ultimately snared the batsman into playing an indiscreet on-drive which was snapped brilliantly by substitute Devendra Bundela, who had just come in for Amit Pagnis. It was a stinging shot which Bundela held in a flash at short mid-wicket. Jaffer, who batted 168 balls, hit 15 fours and fell just six runs short of a century.

Authoritative innings

Martin's was an authoritative innings, full of pleasing strokes on the rise. He dealt with the spinners appropriately and produced some stunning drives on either side. His shots carried lot of punch and the backfoot play that Martin indulged in left the opposition in a trance as the Baroda batsman picked the gaps at will.

The negative line adopted by Central also suited him in the afternoon.

The stocky Kale, a compulsive strokeplaer, gave Martin the right support and the two added 116 runs for the fourth wicket. Having promised so much, Kale erred in judging the length and was catsled by Parida for a well-made 143-ball knock of 49 which contained five fours.

The most valuable `catch' for Central came when Martin got carried away and his uppish drive landed in the hands of Raja Ali at covers. The dismissal of Martin, whose 195-ball knock, studded with 19 fours, was a big boost to the Central attack, which was soon awarded with the wicket of Mongia, whose excessive pad-play led him to make a gross misjudgement. He made no effort to play and was bowled off the pads.

Central tried hard in the last session but Patel and Bahutule held the fort. Hirwani's experiments did not fetch him a single `victim', while seamers Shalabh Srivastava and Jai Prakash Yadav hardly troubled the batsmen. Patel slammed the bowlers for eight delightful boundaries in an entertaining innings which gave a glimpse of the left-hander's potential.

Central, going by some of its needless appealing, looked desperate at one point in the last session with Yadav cautioned for running on to the pitch and Parida being spoken to by umpire Mr. V.N. Kulkarni for being over-aggressive.

The scores:

Central - 1st innings: 536

West - 1st innings: Connor Williams b Srivastava 0, Wasim Jaffer c (sub) Bundela b Parida 94, Hrishikesh Kanitkar lbw b Kanwat 14, Jacob Martin c Raja Ali b Kanwat 121, Abhijit Kale b Parida 49, Niraj Patel (batting) 41, Nayan Mongia b Kanwat 3, Sairaj Bahutule 17, Extras (b-5, lb-5, nb-15) 25, Total (for six wkts in 123 overs) 364.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-37, 3-173, 4- 289, 5-295, 6-300.

Central bowling: Shalabh Srivastava 15-2-49-1, Jai Prakash Yadav 9-2-24-0, Rahul Kanwat 27-5-75-3, Narendra Hirwani 32-5-90-0, Kulamani Parida 40-13-116-2.

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