Jackson scores ton as Saurashtra post 477 against Punjab

Rajkot: Sheldon Jackson scored a sparkling century to enable Saurashtra post 477 in their first innings against Punjab on second day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final match here on Thursday.

In reply to Saurashtra, Punjab made a steady start to reach 41 for no loss at stumps with Jiwanjot Singh unbeaten on 11 and Ravi Inder Singh on 30. Earlier, resuming at an overnight score of 274 for five, Saurashtra added another 203 runs before getting all out. Yesterday`s unbeaten pair of Jackson and Kamlesh Makwana, resuming on 70 and 13, respectively, got their team off to a good start on Thursday. Their sixth wicket stand yielded 106 runs before Siddharth Kaul removed Jackson for a 172-ball 107, studded with 16 boundaries and a six. This was Jackson`s third century of the season. Departure of Jackson brought Vishal Joshi to the crease and he along with Makwana frustrated the visiting team`s bowlers. The duo added 91 runs for the seventh wicket. Leg spinner Sarabjit Ladda provided the breakthrough by getting rid of Makwana. He then accounted for two more wickets of Jaydev Unadkat (9) and Dharmendra Jadeja (17) to push Saurashtra on to the backfoot. Makwana`s patient 85 came off 216 balls and was laced with 12 hits to the fence. Joshi remained stranded on 55 when veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh removed the last man Siddharth Trivedi, who failed to open his account after facing seven balls. For Punjab, Kaul and Ladda were the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets each conceding 119 and 109 runs, respectively. Harbhajan took two wickets by giving away 102 runs. Punjab openers, Ravi and Jiwanjot, managed to survive the day. While Jiwanjot got a life when a bat and pad catch was put down by Jackson at silly point off Makwana, Ravi, who played watchfully, hit some big shots when spinner Dharmendra Jadeja was brought into the attack. Brief scores: Saurashtra: 477 all out in 155 overs (Sheldon Jackson 107, Jaydev Shah 87, Kamlesh Makwana 85, Vishal Joshi not out 55; Sarabjit Ladda 3/109, Siddharth Kaul 3/119, Harbhajan Singh 2/102). Punjab: 41 without loss in 17 overs (Ravi Inder Singh batting 30, Jiwanjot Singh batting 11). PTI