Saxena, Shoaib Khan hog limelight

CHENNAI: Off-spinner Jalaj Saxena’s five for 89, his fourth fifer of the season, helped Alwarpet CC restrict UFCC (T Nagar) to 218 on the first day of the ninth round of the TNCA First Division league here on Friday.

UFCC’s left-hand batter V Maaruthi Raghav scored 60 (95b, 7x4, 1x6) to salvage the situation for his team. Saxena received good support from medium pacer TD Lokesh Raj who scalped three for 47. At stumps, Alwarpet reached 41 for two with S Radhakrishnan batting on 27.

Elsewhere, Nelson SC’s off-spinner Shoaib Md. Khan took five for 38, his third fifer this season, to limit MRC ‘A’ to 177. Nelson batters struggled losing three quick wickets with the score reading just 11. MRC ‘A’ medium pacer P Saravana Kumar took all the three wickets while conceding only two runs.

BRIEF SCORES: Young Stars 269/4 in 90 overs (J Ajay Chetan 79 batting, Naushad Shafi Shaik 137 batting) vs India Pistons; UFCC (T Nagar) 218 in 64.2 overs (KTA Madhava Prasad 45, V Maaruthi Raghav 60, Jalaj Saxena 5/89, TD Lokesh Raj 3/47) vs Alwarpet 41/2 in 23 overs; MRC ‘A’ 177 in 80.4 overs (B Anirudh Sitaram 58, Shoaib Mohd. Khan 5/38) vs Nelson 11/3 in seven overs (P Saravana Kumar 3/2); Sea Hawks 221 in 67.3 overs (M Vishal 52, V Subramania Siva 42, Monish Satish 3/94, RS Mokit Hariharan 3/17) vs Globe Trotters 39/6 in 14 overs (R Aushik Srinivas 4/22); Jolly Rovers 147 in 57.1 overs (Dhruv Shorey 45) vs Grand Slam 97/6 in 36 overs (DT Chandrasekar 4/27); AGORC 180 in 64 overs (G Gogul 53, Harsh Dubey 6/27) vs Vijay 54/2 in 22 overs