Sharad Vesawkar was omitted from the preliminary squad for the World Cricket League Division 5 and was the last minute inclusion after a pull-out. He wanted to prove decision of his exclusion wrong and he did it perfectly.
Sharad Vesawkar hits century. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
Sharad scored an unbeaten century, only third in Nepal’s history of one-dayers with a skill and form that reminded many of his talents and potential. His century brought Nepal a 193-run victory over Fiji at the TU Ground.
On record books, Sharad’s knock counts as 105 not out from 134 balls with eight fours and two sixes but it meant a lot more to the Kathmandu youngster. His celebration to century, pointing his name at his shirt by his bat, was to request the selection commands to remember his name.
Sharad Vesarkar celebrates his century. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
The victory in the match, however, did not ensure the qualification to the finals and the Division 4. The 99-run victory of Singapore over United States of America (USA) means the tournament is still wide open going on the final day on Friday.
Sharad’s century helped the team reach 267/7 in 50 overs. Jersey were bowled out for 74 in 26.4 overs.
This is the only third instance that a Nepali batsman scoring a century. Earlier, Raju Khadka had scored unbeaten 105 against Bhutan at the TU Ground in 2003 Emerging Nations Cup and Shakti Gauchan had scored unbeaten 106 against Italy in Malaysia in 2005 World Cup Qualifying Series II.
Third half-century for captain Paras Khadka in the event. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
Paras played yet another blazing innings scoring 75 off 91 balls – his third half-century in four matches of the event that consolidated his top position as the leading run scorer with 233 runs.
The innings of Sharad and Paras overshadowed a wonderful bowling effort by left-arm spinner Basanta Regmi who took second consecutive haul of four wickets. However as the Fiji’s innings was a drab part of the match, his 4/11 – identical to his figure a day earlier against Bahrain, went unnoticed.
Basanta too is proving the event a good one for him personally as he went atop the leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets in four matches. During batting, he scored quickfire 27 off 19 after Paras was out giving a catch at mid-wicket
The partnership of Paras and Sharad came after Nepal went down 35/3 with openers failing once again and Shakti Gauchan getting out without scoring.
Shakti contributed through bowling taking 2/7. Pacers Mehboob Alam and Binod Das claimed a wicket each. For Fiji, T Sorovaktini (13), M Gauna (13 not out), captain J Rika (11), S Ravoka (10) and I Cakacaka (10) got some runs. J Rika entertained with a six and a four off Binod in consecutive balls before skying at mid-on for a catch.
Support as usual for Nepal. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
“It is one of the best innings I have seen in a long time,” coach Roy Dias said on Sharad’s century. “Today, he showed his class and to do it at TU is a great thing.”
Dias also praised Sharad for playing according to the need of the situation. “He supported Paras well early,” he said.
Paras added that Sharad innings had come under pressure. “He was under pressure to perform,” he said. “He proved his talents and I hope he will continue.”
Fiji captain J Rika commented that he played poorly and did not deserve to win. “We gave away wickets, we did not deserve to win,” he said.
Although Nepal went atop the points table, Friday’s match against USA will be important because unless Nepal beat USA, the two teams and Singapore can finish on equal points and net run-rate can come into play to determine top two teams.
Singapore defeats USA to make it wide open
Victory for Singapore. Photo by ICC.
Singapore’s Jackie Manoj-Kumar secured the side’s fourth victory of the tournament after taking 4-23 and making sure Friday’s matches are integral to who will win promotion to Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 4.
Marvan Atapattu’s men amassed 267 runs in the first innings at the Engineering Ground with Narender Reddy making a half-century while Pramodh Raja fell just five runs short of the 50-mark.
USA captain Steve Massiah attempted to lead the way for his side with a hard-fought half-century but the team failed to fire and Manoj-Kumar’s bowling was too strong.
Coach Clayton Lambert said of the defeat: “We have been playing so well but everybody can have an off day. We still think we can beat Nepal and I am hoping our guys can lift themselves and put in the kind of performance that I am looking for.
“Playing Nepal is a challenge that we are looking forward to. We came here to get some revenge on Nepal and Jersey, but it seems that against Nepal on Friday we will have to be cooking on all cylinders.”
Man of the match Manoj-Kumar said: “We now have a good chance of gaining promotion after today’s win and we are looking forward to Friday. I wasn’t surprised that we defeated the USA as we batted well and posted a good target and then bowled well and caught all our chances.”
Jersey succumbed to a 27-run defeat, to hand Bahrain its first victory of the tournament. The WCL Div. 6 runner-up had a star performer at the Army Ground in the form of Qamar Saeed.
Saeed’s 50 not out was accompanied with impressive bowling figures of 6-33 and earning the 38-year-old the man-of-the-match award.
A mention must go to the valiant efforts of Jersey captain Ryan Driver who made 80 runs in the side’s attempt to chase down the target of 264 set by Yaser Sadeeq’s men, but his efforts were in vain.
Driver said: “Today our fielding let us down and our bowling just wasn’t in the right areas and they made better use of the PowerPlay. We restricted them to 260 and I really felt it was a target we should have got.
“We’re hoping to put the things we’ve learned in the last four games into practice against Singapore as there is no way I want us to go home only winning one game out here.”
Friday’s final round-robin matches see Nepal face USA at Tribhuvan University, Jersey take on Singapore at Engineering Ground and Bahrain play Fiji at the Army Ground.