Basant Regmi and Mehboob Alam each grabbed three wickets as Nepal began the World Cricket League Division 5 campaign strongly defeating Germany by 7 wickets at the Les Quennevais Ground, Jersey on Friday.
Their efforts wrecked German innings as they were bowled out for 69 in 39.4 overs and achieved the target in 20.2 overs with Mahesh Chhetri remaining unbeaten on 23. Man of the match Basant finished with an impressive figure of 5.5-4-4-3 while Mehboob, who bowled his 10 overs in a spell, got three wickets for 24 runs.
It was first time after 2001 ICC Trophy that the two country faced each other. Nepal had defeated Germany by two runs in the earlier meeting, but this time they proved strong enough to bowl out them for the lowest total of the opening day.
Germany won the toss and elected to bat first. With Mehboob firing and captain Binod Das bowling tight line, they were under pressure immediately. Binod got a wicket in the first over and within 10 overs, it looked like a lop-sided match.
“We probably lost the match in first 10 overs, they bowled very well,†German captain Grammar Sommer said. Asif Khan topscored for them with 22 runs.
Once spinners came into action, it was more difficult for the European side to get runs. Shakti Guachan bowled seven overs giving away six runs for a wicket while Raj Kumar Pradhan gave 11 runs for a wicket in three overs.
Nepal’s batting was not on par to the bowling as Paresh Lohani failed to open account. Sharad Vesawkar (12) and Shakti Gauchan (11) got each got start but failed to stay long. It was opener Mahesh Chhetri, whose 23 in 54 balls, pushed Nepal to victory. Gyanendra Malla remained unbeaten on three runs.
“I am happy for my team. It’s important for us to get good start and we got it,†Binod said. “We did well with the bowling but we could have batted better. Anyway, a win is a win and it came so comfortably for us.”
“We are obviously disappointed but we are happy that we picked up three wickets,†Sommer said. In other matches, USA beat Mozambique by 9 wickets after restricting them to 148/7 in 50 overs; Norway beat Vanuatu by 177 runs; Botswana defeated Bahamas by 70 runs and Afghanistan edged Japan by 70 runs.
IMAGE: CricketEurope/JCB (Courtesy: WCL Div 5 Official Site)