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Hyderabad, TN pick five points

The four-day South Zone Ranji Trophy cricket league match between hosts Hyderabad and Andhra ended in a tame draw, but the home team, by virtue of a 130-run first inning lead, gained five points, while Andhra had to setttle for three.

Hyderabad have 13 points from two games, having scored an outright win against Goa, while Andhra have six points from two games, having drawn their the previous match against Tamil Nadu.

Hyderabad, resuming from their overnight score 381 for one on the final day, today added 129 runs in 21.1 overs before M V Sridhar, the overnight batmsan, was out for 86 runs. Vanka Pratap was unbeaten on 64 before Hyderabad skipper Mohammad Azharuddin declared the first innings closed at 510 for six, a lead of 130 runs.

Gangling Andhra medium pacer Ramkishen claimed three wickets for 181 runs, while N Madhukar picked two wickets for 124 runs.

In their second innings, Andhra scored 141 for five as R V Prasad scored an unbeaten 45 runs.

Former Test player and presently the coach of the Hyderabad team Arshad Ayub presented a cheque of Rs.10,000 to Australia-bound V V S Laxman, who scored back to back centuries in the last two games.

Brief scores: Andhra 380 and 141 for five (Prasad Reddy 27, R V Prasad 45 n.o) drew with Hyderabad 510 for six declared (V V S Laxman 104, Daniel Manohar 72, Nanda Kishore 64, Mohammad Azharuddin 77, M V Sridhar 86, Vanka Pratap 64 n.o; Ramkishen 3 for 181, Madhukar 2 for 124).

Chennai: Skipper S Sharath's 11th Ranji century came a bit late in the day as Tamil Nadu had to rest content again with just five points by virtue of 15-run first innings lead as their South Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Kerala ended in a predictable draw today.

Sharath's unbeaten 106 in (282 minutes, 11 fours) came after Tamil Nadu, resuming their second innings at the ovewrnight score of two for no loss, lost four wickets for 173 runs - Anand George (18), Reuben Paul (45 in 123 minutes eight fours), Hemang Badani (0) and J R Madanagopal (41 in 132 minutes, three fours).

Hemang, a heavy scorer for the team last season, got a pair of ducks in this match. Along with Madanagopal, Sharath added 92 runs in 132 minutes for the fourth wicket.

Medium pacer Sunil Oasis (1-28), left arm spinner Sreekumar Nair (2-35) and leg spinner K N Ananthapadmanabhan (1-51) were the wicket takers for Kerala.

Kerala, who had lost to Karnataka in their first league outing, earned three points to open tally in the league. Tamil Nadu will take on Karnataka while Kerala meet Hyderabad on home turf next.

Jaipur: A splendid unbroken 147-run stand between Amay Khurasiya (78 not out) and Abbas Ali (58 not out) for the third wicket fashioned Madhya Pradesh's thumping eight-wicket victory over hosts Rajasthan in their Central Zone one-day pre-Ranji match at the K.L.Saini stadium today.

J.P.Yadav (74), the double century scorer against the Railways recently, and Amay Khurasiya were earlier associated in a 107-run stand for the second wicket and provided a solid froundation to the innings while chasing the victory target of 253 set by the home team, who were asked to bat first.

Rajasthan scored 252 for four, while Madhya Pradesh achieved the target, scoring 254 for 2, with three overs left.

This is the third one-day victory of the visitors, while Rajasthan suffered their second consecutive defeat at their home ground.

UNI