Vishakapatnam: Rashmi Shivshankar scored a hurricane hundred to set up a facile 109 runs victory for South Zone against East Zone in the Chandra Tripathy Inter Zonal Junior tournament being held at Vishakapatnam.

Opening the batting with India opener Karuna Jain, Rashmi completely overshadowed her international partner. She totally dominated the East bowling from the word go in the match held at the Municipal Corporation Stadium. Rashmi got her hundred off just 102 balls and added a further 27 runs from the next 16 balls that she faced. She struck eighteen crisp boundaries in her chanceless knock.

She put on 95 runs for the first wicket with Karuna Jain who scored a painstaking 35 off 64 balls Finally, with just 10 balls remaining, a very tired Rashmi was bowled by one that kept cruelly low. With Deepika, Savitha Nirala, Laxmi Priya, Sindhu and Kritika failing to consolidate, South Zone finished their innings at 225 for six in the allotted 40 overs. Manasi was the only bowler who commanded some respect picking 2 for 37 from her eight overs.

East Zone who had beaten Central Zone earlier, never even made an attempt to overhaul the target set by South. They opted for batting practice and finished with 116 for 4 off the 40 overs. Arpita Ghosh ( 32, 87 balls, 4 fours), Payal Mukherjee (22 not out, 43 balls, 4 fours) and Riya Choudhry ( 24 not out, 35 balls 5 fours) were the main scorers. Pooja Shah, Kritika and Deepika picked up a wicket apiece. Rashmi Shivshankar who has now scores of 40, 40 and 127 in the tournament was declared the Eve of the Match.

Brief Scores:

South Zone 225 for 6 in 40 overs (Rashmi Shivshankar 127, Karuna Jain 35, Diana David 23, Manasi 2 for 37) beat East Zone 116 for 4 in 40 overs (Arpita Ghosh 32, Payal Mukherjee 22 no, Riya Choudhry 24 no) beat by 109 runs.

In the other match played at the Railway Stadium, West Zone beat North Zone by 8 wickets. Anagha Deshpande was declared the Eve of the Match for her 54 off 45 balls.

Brief Scores:

North Zone 134 for 9 in 40 overs (Anureeth Kaur 28, Roopali 19) lost to West Zone 135 for 2 in 27.2 overs (Anagha Deshpande 54, Manali 34, Rupali 2 for 16) by 8 wickets.

In the last round South, meets North at the Railway Stadium. It is important for South to win this game as at this stage South have three wins and if North beats South on the morrow, they will equal South with three wins. As per the rules of the tournament, if the two teams are equal on points 'who beat who' in the league will decide the champions. Hence, this game will be virtually a final.