Ashwani, Surinder bowl J & K to victory

New Delhi: Fine bowling spells by Ashwami Gupta and Surinder Singh helped Jammu and Kashmir to beat Services by 30 runs on the final day of their fourth four-day North Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Harbax Singh stadium here today.

Chasing a modest victory target of 159, Services, resuming on 24 for two, were skittled out for 128 half an hour before tead with left-arm medium pacer Surinder Singh (three for 18) and off-spinner Ashwani Gupta (three for 29) doing the most damage.

The morning session saw just 43 runs coming for the loss of three wickets and at lunch, the hosts were struggling at 67 for five.In the second session, wickets fell at regular intervals, with the seventh and eighth falling on 114 before the hosts innings folded up.

Barring a patient 49 by skipper Sanjay Verma, which took Services past the 100 mark, none of the other batsmen moade any significant contribution. Verma stayed at the wicket for 104 minutes facing 84 balls and hits seven hits to the fence in his 49. Pankaj Maitrey stayed at the wicket for 110 minutes and faced 69 balls but he could contribute merely four runs to the total.

With this win J & K now have 14 points from four matches while Services could not earn any points in the same numbers of fixtures.