MUMBAI, APRIL 2: Tata Sports Club have all but clinched the Times Shield Cricket Challenge `A' division title. By the draw of stumps on Sunday, the penultimate day of the four-day final at Wankhede Stadium, Tata were in an unassailable position having taken two Sun-Grace Mafatlal second inning wickets with just 49 runs on the board, after taking a mammoth 388-run first innings lead.Manoj Joglekar, 158 overnight and expected to pile on the runs, could add just five runs (163: 274b, 380m, 24x4, 2x6) today as he edged Mongia to Atul Bedade behind the stumps. Bedade, who kept instead of Mongia, did a fine job picking up four victims. Syed Saba Karim played an attacking innings of 48, hitting two sixes and six fours in his 65-ball essay.The Sun-Grace skipper Vinod Kambli suffered for the lack of bowlers in the side, and had to do the bulk of the bowling, sending down all kinds - fast and slow, swingers and spinners and even bouncers - as he bowled 39 overs giving away 180 runs and taking a wicket.ScoreboardSun-Grace Mafatlal (1st innings): 304Tata Sports Club (1st innings; overnight 413 for 2): Manoj Joglekar c Bedade b Mongia 163, Nikhil Haldipur c Tamhane b Pagnis 98, Kiran Powar c Tamhane b Mongia 109, Nishit Shetty not out 138, Anand Yalvigi c Bedade b Kambli 1, Sandeep Dahad c Bedade b Khamkar 28, Sriram Kannan c Bedade b Khamkar 0, Saba Karim c Shende b Gavaskar 48, Lalchand Rajput c Shende b Tamhane 27, Ajit Agarkar c Khamkar b Gavaskar 9, Mayank Khandwala did not bat due to injury. Extras: 71. Total: (in 159.5 overs) 692. Fall of wickets: 1-216, 2-413, 3-424, 4-434, 5-509, 6-509, 7-618, 8-672, 9-692Bolwing: Morris 7-0-42-0, Salvi 13-3-44-0, Pagnis 16-1-54-1, Kambli 39-5-180-1, Khamkar 28-3-130-2, Gavaskar 27.5-5-83-2, Dhule 11-1-42-0, Tamhane 5-1-26-1, Shende 4-0-22-0, Mongia 7-0-50-2Sun-Grace Mafatlal (2nd innings): Praful Dhule lbw Dahad 16, Milind Tamhane batting 16, Sanjay Khamkar c Yalvigi b Kannan 6, Hrishikesh Shende batting 6; Extras: (lb1, nb5) 6. Total (for two wickets, 13 overs) 49Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-33. Bowling: Agarkar 3-0-6-0, Dahad 5-0-30-1, Kannan 4-2-10-1, Yalvigi 1-0-2-0.Velaskar, Phadke dazzleMUMBAI: A gallant unbeaten century by Amit Velaskar (116: 9x4, 2x6) and his 18-run partnership for the last wicket with Umesh Gotkhindikar helped hosts MIG Cricket Club beat Victory Cricket Club by a solitary wicket to enter the semi-finals of the Young Comrade Cricket Shield Tournament on their home ground, Bandra here on Sunday.MIG resuming at 64 for 1 and chasing a target of 322 were struggling at 305 for nine, when the last wicket pair saw them through. Manish Bangera (68) was the other main scorer.An unbeaten double century by left hander Mandar Phadke (206: 25x4, 3x6) and and fine bowling performance by off-spinner Omprakash Tiwari (4-65) powered Shivaji Park Youngsters's to a thumping 369-run victory over Khar Gymkhana.Hosts MIG will meet Karnatak SA while Shivaji Park Gymkhana will clash with Shivaji Park Youngsters in the two day semi-finals next week.Brief scores: Victory 322 (Vinayak Samant 152, Nikhil Patwardhan 63; Santosh Saxena 4-79, Faisal Shaikh 3-60) lost to MIG 329-9 (Amit Velaskar 116 not out, Manish Bangera 68, Satish Samant 30; Ramesh Powar 3-119, Vineet Sarang 4-99). Shivaji Park Gymkhana 360 (Raja Adatrao 176, Bharat Karnik 77; Yogesh Dichwalkar 3-87, Salil Vaidya 3-15) bt Young Maharashtra 145 (Rahul Thakur 40; Shreyas Khanolkar 3-40). Karnatak SA 324 (Rohit Rane 37, Arun Shetty 111, Rakesh Mithbawkar 52; Vikas Chowdhary 4-69, Mandar Gokarna 3-73) bt MB Union 107 (Nilesh Masurkar 30; Vinod Raghavan 3-31, Rohit Rane 3-19). Shivaji Park Youngsters 561-8 decl (Mayur Kadrekar 40, Mandar Phadke 206 not out, Amit Aroskar 157) bt Khar Gymkhana 192 (Amol Muzumdar 62; Omprakash Tiwari 4-65).ht-a-side TourneyTop stars Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Jacob Martin, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Nayan Mongia and Dodda Ganesh are expected to compete in the Nationalist Congress Party's eight-a-side invitation cricket tournament on April 5.The event to be staged at Shivaji Park Gymkhana will feature eight teams: National CC, Shivaji Park Gym, Shivaji Park Youngsters, CCI, MIG, Karnatak Sporting Association, Invitation VIII and Payyade SC.The prize money to be won is Rs 50,000 for the best team, Rs 25,000 for runners-up while the man of the series earns Rs 5,000.
