Shillong, Sep 28: A fine century by Josiah Momin and five wickets for Manish Sharma led Meghalaya to victory by a massive 133 runs on the opening day of the Vinoo Mankad Trophy (one day tournament for U-19 boys) against Arunachal Pradesh in the Plate Group.
Arunachal won the toss in Ranchi and elected to field first, dismissing Meghalaya’s openers with just 24 on the scoreboard.
However, Momin held the innings together as he struck 109 off 111 balls, to guide his team to 217. Captain Kevin Christopher (40 off 77 deliveries) gave Momin company in their 121-run third wicket partnership.
Momin paced his knock perfectly, first stabilising the Meghalaya innings before upping the scoring rate as the end approached. He reached 50 in 72 balls before hitting his next 50 off just 35, striking 14 fours and two sixes.
Momin finally fell in the 43rd over and his team mates added a further 30 runs (PM Santosh contributing 16) before being bowled out for 217 off the very last delivery.
Arunachal started the chase fairly well, not losing a wicket until the 15th over but always behind on the required run rate.
Sharma claimed both opening batters and added three more scalps in the middle and lower orders to finish with figures of 5/24 in his maximum of 10 overs.
All the other four bowlers used by Meghalaya also had success with the ball, with Gavineal Marpna claiming 2/16, while Waldo A Sangma, Santosh and Bharat Gurung all ended with 1/14 as Arunachal were bowled out for just 84.
Meghalaya’s next match will be against Nagaland on Wednesday.
