Finally, Nepal salvaged some pride registering a nervous three-run victory over African qualifier Namibia in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2008 at the Malaysia Sains University Ground on Thursday.
Nepal scored 164 in 49.5 overs – thanks to defiant 62-run knock by man of the match Mahesh Chhetri – after electing to bat first before Gyanendra Malla proved to be the hidden armor taking two wickets in two overs to give Nepal a narrow victory.
With the win, Nepal now finishes third in Group C and now meets the fourth team of Group A – one among Malaysia and Zimbabwe. The opponent is most likely to be Zimbabwe, the Test nation that had defeated Nepal in the practice match, because only their win against defending champions Pakistan on Friday can put them ahead of Malaysia.
Malaysia, the qualifier as hosts, upset Zimbabwe on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Nepal began with a good opening partnership of 38 runs in seven overs but Anil Mandal got bowled off Keady Strauss on seven. He was unlucky to get out after digging out a yorker but the ball rolled up to his stumps.
Gyanendra Malla (0), Sagar Khadka (7 off 46 balls) and Paras Khadka (12) were soon back to the pavilion with Nepal struggling at 80/4. Akash Gupta hit two elegant fours and a six before falling to Sean Silver at 21 and Rahul Biswokarma too failed to stay long and dragged a van der Westhuizen’s ball on to his stumps.
Mahesh’s 134-ball knock ended on 48th over. Rom Shrestha has a brief stay for 26 runs taking Nepal’s total past 150 and two run outs ended Nepal’s innings a ball earlier than scheduled.
Morne Engelbrecht, Keady Strauss and LP van der Westhuizen took two wickets each for the Africans.
“I am rather disappointed with my boys in particular Paras (Khadka), Sagar and Gyanendra who played the ball up in the air and paid the price,†said Nepal team manager Tarak Dixit. “The pitch seems to favor the spinners as most wickets fell to the spinners operating on both ends.â€
In reply, Amrit Bhattarai and Paras took a wicket each to reduce Namibia to 29/9 (included a run out) in 12th overs. Silver (41) and Weshuizen almost batted Nepal out of the match with a 70-run partnership. Weshuizen, who hit three boundaries and a six, then added another 34 runs with Ewald Steenkamp (11) to demoralize the Nepal.
With 10 overs remaining, Namibia needed 28 runs with four wickets in hand it was all left to van der Westhuizen to carry on the assault. However, his innings ended when Rom Shrestha in the deep caught him.
He scored 65 off 75 balls and got out trying to hit six off Raj in a ball that Nepali coach Roy Dias believed was the lone good delivery. “Raj tried to bowl fast on a turning wicket. The only time he gave it a flight, he turned the ball and got the big wicket,†Dias said.
Gyanendra, who had never bowled at u-19 level earlier, bowled the 45th and got Ya France, caught behind by Mahesh. A tense drama unfolded as the Namibians crawled to 160-8, needing only five runs from 14 balls.
Gyanendra also ran out Elandre Oosthuizen with a clean throw to Raj Shrestha in the 48th over and returned to bowl his second in the 49th and bowled Morne Engelbrecht for seven off the last ball to fashion a thrilling win.
“Though we may have won, I am not satisfied, especially with batting,†Nepali coach Roy Dias said after the match. “The batsmen should concentrate more and should not just try to hit out of the ground,†he fumed.
On the other hand Namibia did almost every thing right other than crossing the finish line. “We bowled well and batted well initially. We played well for 90 overs and lost in the 10 overs,†Namibian skipper Dawid Botha summed up the match.
“We lost too many wickets at the wrong time,†Namibian coach Louis Foster pointed out after the heartbreaking loss. “Our spinners bowled very well but the new ball bowlers gave too many runs.â€