West Zone, who suffered an early jolt with the dismissal of opener Sahil Kukreja without scoring in the very second delivery of Graham Onions, fought their way back into the game with the solid unbeaten 187-run second wicket partnership between Jaffer and Rahane.

Even as West were set to take the first innings lead, they would be able to make it to the finals only if they register an outright win.

score board

ENGLAND LIONS (I innings, O/n: 273/4): MH Yardy b Jobanputra 169,  G Onions c Kukreja b Jobanputra 31, JS Foster lbw Dhurv 0, AU Rashid (not out) 9, LE Plunkett c Kukreja b Powar 19, SP Kirby lbw Dhurv 3, MS Panesar c Pujara b Dhurv 1. Extras (B-4, LB-8, NB-2) 14. Total (all out, 126 overs) 355.
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Carberry), 2-51 (Denly), 3-126 (Joyce), 4-267 (Trott), 5-322 (Yardy), 6-323 (Onions), 7-323 (Foster), 8-342 (Plunkett), 9-353 (Kirby), 10-355 (Panesar).
Bowling: SK Trivedi 22-0-73-0, AM Makda 18-4-61-3; SP Jobanputra 13-4-44-2, RR Powar 26-5-62-1, RV Dhurv 24-8-53-3, YK Pathan 21-7-39-0, AM Rahane 2-0-11-0.
 WEST ZONE (I innings): SO Kukreja c Foster b Onions 0, W Jaffer (not out) 82, AM Rahane (not out) 93.      Extras (B-2, LB-3, NB-7) 12. Total (one wkt; 55 overs) 187.
Fall of wickets: 1-0.
Bowling: G Onions 11-1-41-1, SP Kirby 12-1-34-0, MS Panesar 9-3-29-0,  LE Plunkett 9-2-25-0,  IJL Trott 6-2-16-0,  AU Rashid 8-0-37-0.