UP women maintain unbeaten record

Uttar Pradesh's women cricketers maintained their unbeaten record in Sri Lanka with an exciting five run victory over a Young Women's XI at the Colts Club in Colombo on Thursday.

In scorching heat, the Young Women XI made the surprise decision to field first after winning the toss. They may well have thought that they had made the correct decision at the half way stage, after bowling out UP for just 116. However the tourists had defended a low total on Tuesday and they repeated the trick again, by bowling out their opponents for just 111 in 45 overs.

Having been put into bat, the mainstays of the Uttar Pradesh innings were the opener, Priyanka Shally, with a breezy 22 off 34 balls (She was the top scorer in the last match with a fine 34), and Rahul Singh with a not out 26. Apart from these contributions none of the batsmen got to grips with the bowling and wickets fell at regular intervals throughout the innings. Wasanthi and Janakanthi were the pick of the bowlers for the Sri Lankans, both picking up three wickets.

In reply, the Sri lankan openers made a positive reply, putting on 26 for the first wicket. When the second wicket partnership took the score to 48, the visitors must have feared the worst. However this UP side appears to never give up. Once again it was the mid-innings bowlers that did the damage, Rahul Singh following her fine batting with a match winning 4-24 off her allotted 10 overs.

When the ninth wicket fell with the score on 99, UP believed that they were home and dry. However a nail biting last wicket stand edged the Sri Lankans towards their target before Preethi Dimri took the last wicket and UP had squeezed home again.