Nepal entered into the semifinals of the ACC U-19 Women’s Championship Cricket Tournament as they pulled off third consecutive victory in the group round on Sunday defeating UAE by 68 runs.
Nepallead Group A with six points from three matches whileThailandhave four points from two matches andChinahave two points from three matches.Malaysiaand the UAE have no points in their kitty.
Nepal won the toss and elected to bat first at the KOC Unity Ground,Kuwait.Nepalput up 158/8 in 25 overs and later restricted the UAE at 90/9 in 25 overs.
The score against the UAE isNepal’s second best score batting first, and it was the second win over the UAE in the all three editions of the championship.Nepalhad scored 159 runs batting first againstSingaporein 2010.Nepalhad earlier defeated UAE by 81 runs in 2010 inSingapore.
On Sunday,Nepalcould not start well as they lost opener Shilu Rijal for duck. Shilu had scored 35 runs againstKuwaiton Saturday. Another opener Anuradha Chaudhary also gave away her wicket cheaply for eight runs but she shared a 52-runs partnership for the second wicket with Indu Verma. Verma top scored with 32 runs in 41 balls including two boundaries.
Nepal continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. Kavita Gautam was out for 6 runs. Skipper Rubina Chhetri was back to the pavilion with 13 runs. Mamata Chaudhary scored 10 runs while player-of-the-match Sonu Khadka scored 30 runs off 20 balls with five boundaries.
Khadka and Pratikshya Basyal shared a 33-runs partnership for the eighth wicket. Basyal was not out at two runs and Saraswoti Chaudhary was on the crease with two runs. Sangeeta Gauchan scored just one run.
The UAE bowlers gave away 50 runs as extras that included 47 wides.
Ayesha Naushadkhan, Shambhavi Gupta and Humaira Tasneem claimed two wickets each.
Chasing the huge total of 159 runs, UAE could manage to score only 90 runs losing nine wickets in 25 overs.
Nepali pace bowlers piled pressure on the UAE batters from the start of the innings. The UAE lost two wickets in the first over with just four runs on board.
Nepali skipper Chhetri bagged four wickets conceding 15 runs in her five overs that included a maiden. Shantoshi Chaudhary, Saraswoti Chaudhary, Kavita Gautam and Sonu Khadka grabbed a wicket each while a batter was retired hurt.
Esha James, a 10-year old, was the highest scorer for UAE with 18 runs off 26 balls. Opener Kyna Vedhasinghe scored 13 runs while Humaira Tasneem added 11 runs. Nepali bowlers gave away 33 runs as extras.
Nepali Coach Nabin Singh was delighted after the win against UAE. “The batting sector of the team is up to the par but the bowlers conceded extras due to wind in the field. We need to improve our bowling in the next match.”
Coach Singh added that the team will play againstThailandas the players are confident and they are winning matches. “We will bat 25 overs and try to restrictThailandcheaply.”
Nepal will take onThailandon Monday.