Nagaland, Manipur girls bowl 136 wides in one-day match

THE COMMITTEE OF ADMINISTRATORS (COA) WANTS TO INTEGRATE NORTHEASTERN STATES INTO THE BCCI SETUP

NEWDELHI:An astounding 136 wide balls were bowled during a BCCI U-19 women’s one-day match between Nagaland and Manipur being played at Dhanbad. The match, which is a part of the inaugural NE-Bihar U-19 one-day competition being organised by the cricket board, saw Manipur bowling 94 wide balls while Nagaland were a shade better with 42.

Nagaland girls won the match by 117 runs to log four points, but it was learnt that girls from both the northeastern states were at times not even able to land the ball on the 22-yard square.

Sample this: Nagaland were all out for 215 in 38 overs and as per the scorecard available on BCCI website, Mushkan (54) and Pori (24) were the only two batswomen, who managed to score in double digits.

But Manipur bowled 94 wide deliveries, which meant nearly 15.4 extra overs. Despite the bowling side’s profligacy, Nagaland women lasted 38 overs, and had a decent score to look forward to. In reply, Manipur were all out for 98 in 27.3 overs with Nagaland bowling seven extra overs (42 wides). In Manipur innings, there were two players who got into double figures. Seterni (17) and Ronibala Thokchom (24) crossed the 10-run mark while Pori of Nagaland got five wickets for 16 runs.

The match was being played at the Nehru Stadium in Jealgora, Dhanbad. The Committee of Administrators (COA) wants to integrate northeastern states into the BCCI set-up but the match was an example that aspiring cricketers from the region need top quality coaching facility from the cricket board.

“There is always a beginning. As the teams from NE states will play more matches, they will certainly get better. With state of the art coaching, one can only get better,” said Naba Bhattacharjee, the Meghalaya CA top boss and the convenor of NE states.