Nepal, UAE and Malaysia registered easy victory while Thailand fell four runs short against Oman’s total on the second day of the ACC U-19 Cup.
NEPAL v BRUNEI, Group A
Nepal confirmed its spot in the quarterfinal, to be played on Nov 16, as the Group A winner after thrashing lowly Brunei by 10 wickets today at the BSAMV Groud, Bhaktapur.
Nepal invited Brunei to bat first and bowled out them for mere 21 – the lowest total of the event. Brunei batsmen who seemed reluctant to use foot, stayed for 15.2 overs.
Opening seamers Amrit Bhattarai and Abhaya Rana destroyed the Brunei batting taking the first five wickets for seven runs. Amrit, the man of the match yesterday against Bahrain, took three wickets in his six overs and then stepped onto the ball forcing captain Kaniska Chaugai to substitute him by Basant Regmi.
Abhaya in his debut took two wickets in his six overs. All their victims, the top five batsmen of Brunei, were out without scoring. Ali Hasan (5) and Ali Yousuf Sani (2) stayed for a 9-run partnership before the spinners cleaned off the tail.
Off-spinner Ratan Rauniyar took three wickets in his eight balls and is on the hattrick for the next match. Shashi Keshari took two wickets in successive ball during his two overs.
Mahesh Chhetri (8) and Kaniska Chaugai (2) didn’t have to toil hard for Nepali victory as the Brunei bowlers gave away 12 extras in 3.5 overs. The innings lasted 18 minutes and the match ended well before lunch.
“The wicket was good and I felt we could have scored more,” Brunei captain Mueedoznair Miaan said. “But the Nepali bowling was very good.”
Ratan and Amrit were declared joint man of the match by match referee Iqbal Sikandar.
UAE v Iran, Group B
United Arab Emirates (UAE) defeats Iran by 336 (that is three hundred thirty six runs)!!
Iran won the toss and elected to field first – a decision that if they had avoided would have made them feel better. UAE came into bat and made merry of weaker bowling attack. Opener Vivek Reji Thomas was out for 36 after added 80 with Shehan Dharmasena but for Dharmasena it was an opportunity.
He ended up scoring a century – 109 from 122 balls with 12 boundaries. It was more a patient knock than an aggressive innings. He had a century partnership with Rameez Shahzad – who got 52 off 40 deliveries with seven fours and 65 more with Owais Hameed (38). Aref Raisi bowled him out. Shoaib Sarwar (40 off 22 balls with four fours and a six) also contributed for the total.
For Iran, Afzal Raisi and Aref Balooch each took two wickets.
Iran’s reply was disastrous as they lost first six wickets for seven runs – and all for 39 runs. Only Abdul Gafar showed some resistance scoring not out 18 in 38 balls with three fours. Opening pair Shoaib Sarwar and Syed Muhammad Gawad each took five wickets.
Oman v Thailand, Group C
Thailand reached too near to the victory but fell four runs short. Oman after winning toss elected to bat first and scored 149 runs in 40.2 overs. Thailand replying only managed 145 runs.
Vivek Venkatram topscored for Oman with 48 in 81 balls after they were struggling at 29/3. Pranav Mehta (25 off 30 balls, 5x4s) and Sanjit Kumar (24 off 32, 3x4s) contributed well. Venkatram was the last man out as Oman went down from 123/4 to 149 all out losing last six wickets for 26 runs.
Darshil Shah spearheaded Thai bowling with four wickets in 10 overs while Ajay Saraff took three last wickets.
Darshil however couldn’t give Thailand a good start falling on the first ball of the innings. Mustaq Syed bowled him and No 3 John Hottinger to make it 22/2. From there, Sunil Nalinvilawin and Nishad Rego kept Thai hopes afloat with 74-run partnership.
After that both fell to Ali Bilal in space of seven runs. Thenafter, Omani bowlers saw the hopes and bowled their hearts out. Mustaq Syed took two more while Mohd Imran and Ansar Ansari took one each to make it 139/9.
Thai needing 10-run partnership for the last wicket went to add six but then Bilal caught last man Nopphon Senamontree off his own bowling for a memorable victory.
Malaysia v Saudi Arabia, Group D
Malaysia registered a second win in two days to prove they are one of the favorites. They defeated Saudi Arabia by a convincing margin of 172 runs.
Malaysia after being invited to bat scored 271/8 in allotted 50 overs with Eszrafuq Ab Azis topscoring with 85. In reply, Saudi Arabia were all out for 99.
Man of the match Eszarafiq hit seven fours and two sixes of his 81-ball knock. Ariffin Ramly (43 off 72 balls) and captain Suhan Kumar (34 off 58) also played good knocks.
For Saudis, Imran Nasir took four wickets giving away 34 runs in 10 overs.
Saudis started well making 74/1 in 16 overs but then after Mohd Shukri Abd Rahim and Eszrafiq tightened screws taking four wickets each. They were bowled out for 99 runs in 30.1 overs. Hassan Malik (21), Saad Khan (19) and Shoaib Ali (23) were the only batsmen reaching the double figure.