South Zone did not waste much time in racing to a six wicket victory over West Zone at the Sunshine ground in Cuttack and advancing to the final of the CK Nayudu Trophy (under-19) tournament on Friday.

West Zone, who finished 73 runs behind on the first innings, resumed at 96 for six in their second innings. VM Joshi, the opening batsman who had put up somd defiance on Thursday, fell without adding to his overnight score of 32. He batted a shade over 2-1/2 hours, faced 123 balls and hit two fours. UN Karkera (26) and skipper CP Kulkarni (17 not out) put up a semblance of a fight before Md Faiq brought the innings to a swift end by taking three wickets in eleven balls and finishing with five for 31.

Needing 59 for a win, South Zone lost four wickets but faced no real danger and reached their target off 16.1 overs. KR Adhav took three of the wickets to fall in four overs for 14 runs.

© CricInfo