Dipendra Chaudhary scored 107 against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to script a nine-wicket victory in the last limited over match at the TU Cricket Ground.
Dipendra coincidently had scored 107 six years ago when MCC toured Nepal in 2003 in the last match of the tour to give Nepali side the lone victory. The difference is that he remained unbeaten and it was third victory in four matches for the hosts.
MCC scored 160/8 in 50 overs with Keith Newell getting 54 and Keith Parsons scoring 39. Binod Das led the way with three wickets. In reply, Dipendra’s brilliant innings gave CAN XI a thumping victory with Shakti Gauchan (unbeaten 35) being the other contributor.
Nepal opened the innings with Paresh Lohani and Dipendra; but Paresh hit a four off 10 balls and was caught by Min Patel off Peter King in the fourth over.
That was however the lone success for the English club, who had lost a 50-over match and a Twenty20 after winning the opening game. Dipendra played 98 balls and hit 13 fours and four sixes in his innings.
He was dropped at third-man region on 69. He reached his century with a four and ended a match by hitting a six to Patel.
Shakti remained a cool partner scoring 35 off 74 balls with four boundaries as the match ended with more than 19 overs remaining.
Earlier, MCC won the toss and elected to bat first. Captain Patel was out in the last ball of first over. Pacers, Binod and captain Paras Khadka, bowled well sharing five wickets between them.
Their exploits put MCC at 17/4 in seven overs before Newell led the recovery. He got 54 off 112 balls but could not get enough support from middle-order. The lower order however contributed with No 8 Parsons (39 off 63 balls), No 9 Matt Walker (unbeaten 10) and No 10 King (18 off 12) getting some runs.
Basant Regmi took two wickets while Shakti took a wicket. MCC will now play CAN XI in a three-day match beginning March 27.
Brief score: MCC 160/8 in 50 overs (Keith Newell 54, Keith Parsons 39, Binod Das 3/38, Paras Khadka 2/11, Basant Regmi 2/32) lost to CAN XI 166/1 in 30.4 overs (Dipendra Chaudhary 107*, Shakti Gauchan 35*) by 9 wickets.