AG Orissa emerge East Zone champions

Orissa emerged champions in the East Zone Audit and Accounts Cricket Tournament, defeating Bengal by seven wickets in the final at Kolkata on yesterday. Captain Ashok Panda (61) and Prashant Mohapatra (53) hit a half-century each to help Orissa overhaul a target of 180 in 23 overs, losing three wickets in the process. Earlier, a four-wicket haul by off-spinner Saroj Barik enabled Orissa restrict Bengal to 179 in 25 overs. In the three-day zonal tournament, Orissa crushed Tripura by seven wickets to set up the final against Bengal. The victory in the zonal final has made Orissa eligible to participate in the inter-zonal tournament to be held at Jaipur (Rajasthan) from March 24 to 26. Orissa team: Ashok Panda (capt), Prasanta Mohapatra (wk), Saroj Barik, Dipti Ranjan Jena, P Jayachandra, Anil Satpathy, Subhasis Bhuyan, Satya Ranjan Satpathy, Pradeep Das, Jagannath Das, Pravat Pati, Ramakanta Mishra, Akhila Jena. Manager: Asit Kumar Patra.