Suguna to lead State women’s cricket team

Women’s cricket in India is set to reap benefits of its merger with that of the men’s with BCCI organising the Senior National Women’s Tournament from November 30. The limited-overs tournament, which has been designed on the lines of Ranji Trophy, will start from inter-State zonal level and conclude with top two States from each of the five zones vying for the National title. Apart from this tournament, an inter-zonal meet will be conducted on the lines of Duleep Trophy, Orissa Cricket Association joint secretary Satya Mohanty said today. Six States will compete in the East Zone inter-State tournament to be held at Guwahati from November 30 to December 6. Orissa Sports Secretary CTM Suguna will lead a 16-member State team in the East zone tournament. A former India International, Suguna also headed a committee which selected the team after a two-day trial at Cuttack. As many as 60 players joined the trial, which was conducted at Ravenshaw College ground on November 27 and 28. The team will leave for Kolkata by Madras Mail on Wednesday night and then fly from Kolkata to Guwahati the next day. Orissa will play their opening match against Bengal on December 1. They will next meet Jharkhand on December 3 and then take on Assam on December 6. According to the OCA joint secretary, BCCI has fixed match fees for different National tournaments. ‘‘For Senior National championship, a player will get Rs 1,500 a match. A cricketer will receive Rs 500 per match for Junior (under-19) National championship,’’ disclosed Mohanty. Orissa team: CTM Suguna, Sudhansubala Sahu, Kumudini Sahu, Soni Suhani, Priyanka Sahu (all Bhubaneswar): Madhusmita Behera, Chinmayee Das, Kumkum Nayak, Subhalaxmi Rout (all Cuttack): Kadambini Mahakud, Itishree Patnaik, Saswati Satpathy, Tikilata Pradhan (all Dhenkanal): Rinku Gupta, Seeulee Bepari (both Balasore): Puspanjali Pradhan (Khurda). Coach: Sushanta Kumar Sethi: Manager: Madhumita Banerjee: Trainer: Ashok Singh.