Nepal inched towards ICC U19 World Cup qualifications with a nail-biting 9-run victory over Namibia as hosts Ireland, PNG, Scotland and USA also registered wins in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Ireland.
Yet another day of thrilling action, witnessed further churning in the positioning of teams on the points table as the tournament enters the climatic final few days.
Nepal and Namibia played out a closely fought match.
Nepal posted 217 thanks to Naresh Budayair’s 51 (82b, 1×4, 1×6). Christopher Coombe picked up his career best haul of 6-41 to run through the Nepal middle and lower-order.
Namibia’s chase appeared to be faltering, but Merwe Erasmus (63: 77b, 1×4, 3×6) revived the innings first with Coombe (30) and then with Shalako Groenewald (44). In the end, Nepal’s varied attack managed to make the breakthroughs at the right moments to claim a nine-run win.
Coombe won the Man of the Match award for his all-round spell. But he said that a win would have satisfied him more: “This (6-41) was my best spell at any level. The pitch assisted me a bit. While batting, I thought, we could win the game. I had to stay there long enough. Unfortunately, that was not the case today. But hopefully we can come back stronger.”
Nepal U19 217 all out, 49.5 overs (Budayair 51, Pun 39; Coombe 6-41) beat Namibia U19 209 for nine, 50 overs (Erasmus 63, S Groenewald 44, Coombe 30; K Karki 3-27, A Karn 2-38) by nine runs.