Captain Paras Khadka will probably declare the BSAM Ground his favorite for his two innings there has produced him two thumping victories, two half-centuries and two man-of-the-match awards.
Paras Khadka was at his best agains Bahrain. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
His unbeaten 71 against Bahrain brought Nepal an eight-wicket victory and pushed his team towards the qualification to World Cricket League Division 4. It was third victory in as many games for Nepal in the WCL Div 5.
His blazing knock came as Nepal chased down Bahrain’s lowly 114 with 145 balls to spare. Three days ago he scored 69 to register 6-wicket win over Jersey at the same venue.
Against Bahrain, he played 65 balls, hit nine fours and three sixes and went atop the leading run scorer’s table of the tournament.
Earlier, Basant Regmi and Sanjam Regmi led the bowling on the spinners’ track early sharing seven wickets between them.
After openers Dipendra Chaudhary and Mehboob Alam went back early falling to spinners introduced in the second over, Paras came on the field to join Shakti Gauchan.
Paras attacked the bowling and played some glorious cricket shots in his knock. He reached 50 in 50 balls with five boundaries and a six and continued his assault to Bahrain spinners.
Shakti largely played a supporting role rotating strike and enjoying the show. He remained unbeaten on 27 with two fours from 69 balls.
Paras greets after completing his half-century. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
“It was fantastic batting,” coach Roy Dias commented. “Shakti is also batting well in the event.”
Earlier, Nepal won the toss and invited Bahrain to bat first. After losing Imran Sajjad in the first over to Mehboob Alam, Shahzad Ahmed and Abdul Majeed played brilliantly to dominate over pacers.
The pair added 44 in eight overs playing against Mehboob and Binod Das on the pitch that had little support for pace. Basant Regmi was introduced on the tenth over and his introduction put on brakes on runs.
He bowled a maiden followed by a wicket-maiden prompting Paras to use more spinners. Ahmed fell to Basant on 27 while Majeed stayed to the 20th over until Sanjam got his hands on the ball.
Sanjam got Majeed (26) on his first ball. He could have seen a brilliant first over if Mehboob and Shakti held on catches offered at gully and silly point.
Basant, Sanjam, Rahul BK and Shakti made it hard for Bahrain batsmen to score and they reached 100 in 35 overs losing seven wickets.
Wickets fall at regular interval with Basant finishing 4/11 in 8.5 overs and Sanjam adding two more to stay atop the table of the leading wicket takers. He now has nine – two more than Basant who is tied in second position with three others. Rahul grabbed two in his 10 overs.
“It clearly showed that Nepal was better prepared than us, we could not read the wicket,” Bahrain captain Yaser Sadeq said. “We are not used to playing on the turf.”
Nepal is playing Fiji on Wednesday at the TU Ground.
USA beat Jersey, Arora’s 94 keep Singapore in sight
The USA was made to work hard by Jersey for a 66-run victory to also maintain its 100 per cent record in the event.
Jersey must have felt confident of repeating its win over the USA at the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 in 2008, when a brilliant spell from Ryan Driver (3-25) helped reduce Steve Massiah’s side to 55-5.
However, a 118-run partnership between Carl Wright (76) and Aditya Thyagarajan (83 not out) brought the US back into the game. It then delivered an electrifying display of hitting with Rashard Marshall hitting five fantastic sixes in a 21-ball innings of 42 not out to post an impressive target of 253-6 off 50 overs.
Dean Morrison once again showed fine form in making 36 and with Samuel de la Haye (also 36) provided a platform for Jersey to chase its target. But no batsman went on to play the big innings required to win the match as Lennox Cush (4-37) claimed four wickets to seal what in the end turned out to be a comfortable victory.
Carl Wright of USA on his way to 76. Photo by ICC.
Man of the match Carl Wright, who had to leave the field early due to a finger injury sustained while keeping wicket, said: “I’m delighted – it was a real team effort to achieve the victory.
“The pitch was difficult to bat on so I aimed to occupy the crease for as long as possible and eventually it paid off for me. The situation called for that type of innings so I just tried my best.
“We still have two games to go and we are just trying to take it one game at a time and hopefully in our next match we can put in a good performance.”
In the other game of the day, Singapore achieved a remarkable victory over Fiji to keep alive its hopes of promotion.
Fiji’s batting once again looked like it had let it down when no batsman made more than Jo Rika’s 32, but an important 10th-wicket stand of 48 runs from Sakaraia Lomani (16) and Viliame Yabaki (18) helped it recover to 194 all out.
Singapore had a disastrous start when it lost three wickets in the space of four balls, in the fifth over, to reduce it to 33-3, before recovering to reach 85-4.
Singapore captain Munish Arora recieves man of the match award from ICC Global Development Manager Matthew Kennedy. Photo by ICC.
Sakaraia Lomani (3-33) then earned his third wicket of the match to dismiss Riaz Hussien to spark another collapse which saw Singapore in all kinds of trouble at 106-7.
Singapore’s 38-year-old skipper Monish Arora then played the innings of the tournament as he hit 94 not out to help his side reach its target with 14 balls to spare.
In Wednesday’s matches, Fiji face Nepal, Bahrain play Jersey and Singapore take on USA.