North Zone on top against East in senior women's inter zonal multi-day trophy semifinal

Pune, Apr 3 (PTI) North Zone produced a collective bowling effort to dismiss East Zone for a modest 132 in the first innings on the opening day of their senior women's inter zonal multi-day semifinal, which began here on Wednesday.

In reply, North Zone reached 90 for three after Shafali Verma stroked her way to 57 not out off 83 balls, studded with 10 fours. India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, however, was dismissed for just 10 runs.

North Zone trail by a further 33 runs and looked set to take a vital first-innings lead in this three-day contest.

Monikha Das top-scored for the East Zone with 29 as none of the other batters could really trouble the scorers, with Shafali, Amanjot Kaur and Nandini Sharma claiming two wickets apiece at the Pune Cricket Club Ground.

In the other semifinal, half-centuries from Arundathi Reddy (85), Sajeevan Sajana (74) and Tamanna Nigam (55) took South Zone to 289 in the first innings against West Zone at the DY Patil Academy in Ambi.

Reddy looked set for a century but fell for 85 from 166 balls which included nine fours, while Sajana cracked 10 fours in her 130-ball 74. Together, they put on 134 runs for the fifth wicket to consolidate for the South Zone.

At the top, Tamanna did well to make 55 from 77 balls with seven fours.

In reply, West Zone were nine for no loss at stumps on the first day, trailing by 280 runs. PTI DDV AH AH