Region No 4 Bhairahawa made the semifinal match against Region No 1 Biratnagar look like a mismatch registering a 73-run victory to enter the final of the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament at the TU Cricket Ground on Thursday.
Antim Thapa and Sagar Khadka scored half-centuries to help two-time defending champion reach 175 in 44.5 overs. Amrit Bhattarai bowled brilliantly for a five-wicket haul as Biratnagar managed only 102 runs in 36.5 overs of the rain-affected match reduced to 48-overs per side.
Bhairahawa suffered early setback after being invited to bat first, losing three wickets for 39 runs but then Antim and Sagar took charge and dominated the proceedings. They put on 121 runs to help Bhairahawa reach a good total before both were out in space of seven balls.
Antim scored 57 runs off 98 balls with four boundaries while Sagar got 58 off 87 balls with three fours and a six. When Antim got out as Puspa Thapa’s first of four victims, and Sagar followed five runs later, Bhairahawa was 165/5 with 5.4 overs remaining but failed to accelerate.
Puspa’s 4/15 in six overs and a run out put brakes on scoring and the last five wickets could score only 10 runs. Apart from Puspa, Santosh Baral claimed three wickets while Eraj Shrestha and Pema Yonjan Lama each took a wicket.
Biratnagar’s reply was slow and it scored less than two runs per over until the 19th over. Amrit Bhattarai and Bal Bahadur Thapa bowled a very tight line giving very less margin for scoring. Though Thapa went wicket-less, he gave away just 10 runs in eight overs while left-arm pacer Amrit claimed five wickets for 10 runs in his 8.5 overs.
Pawan Das (16), Santosh (14) and Puspa (15) tried to put Biratnagar on track to chase the total but were not able to cope with the Bhairahwa bowling. Left-arm spinner Rahul BK took two wickets while Govinda Karki and Antim Thapa each got one. Amrit was declared the man-of-the-match. On Friday, Region No 3 Kathmandu meets Region No 5 Nepalgunj in the second semifinal.
Photo by Nepal Photo Agency