Region No 1 (Biratnagar) and Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) stormed into the semifinals of Wai Wai Women’s U-19 National Cricket Tournament.
An unbeaten half-century from player-of-the-match Kajol Shrestha helped Biratnagar thrash Region No 8 (Pokhara) by 96 runs on Thursday at the TU Cricket Ground while Indu Berma’s all-round performance sealed a six-run victory for Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) over Region No 6 (Baitadi).
Biratnagar and Bhairahawa will lock their horns on Friday to decide the winner and runner-up of the group B while already crashed out teams, Baitadi and Pokhara, will vie for a consolation win.
Kajol Shrestha of Biratnagar receives player-of-the-match trophy
Shrestha, the opener of Biratnagar, scored unbeaten 52 runs off 64 balls including three boundaries to guide her team to a total of 155/6 in allotted 25 overs. Sangita Rai added 26 runs off 30 balls while Rosana Rai chipped in with 15 runs off 22 balls. However, Biratnagar benefited the most from extras as Pokhara bowlers gave away 54 runs as extras with their indiscipline attack. They bowled 45 wides. Pragya Pokharel with a bowling figure of 5-0-12-2 was the most successful Pokhara bowler.
In chasing the total, Pokhara was all out for 59 runs in 19.3 overs. Sapana Shrestha, Yanji Sherpa and Sangita Rai took two wickets each for Biratnagar while Sanjhana Budhathoki claimed a wicket. Three batters from Pokhara fell short to the crease. Pragya Pokharel (nine runs off 26 balls) was the highest scorer for Pokhara. Had not Biratnagar bowled 29 runs as extras, Pokhara would have suffered more humiliating defeat.
In the second match of the day, player-of-the-match Indu Berma scored 29 runs off 36 balls and took three wickets to seal a six-run victory for Bhairahawa. Electing to bat, Bhairahawa put up 125/5 in 25 overs as Pratikshya Bashyal scored 27 runs and Aaksha Gurung added 23 runs off 37 balls. Hema Air claimed a wicket for Baitadi while four Bhairahawa batters fell short to the crease.
Indu Berma of Bhairahawa receives player-of-the-match trophy
Baitadi could reach only 119/8 in 25 overs. Besides Berma, Soniya Paudel took two wickets while Sudha Thapa and Saiyya Gurung claimed a wicket each for Bhairahawa. Kabita Kunwar (22 runs off 16 balls), Sonu Khadka (22 runs off 26 balls) and Chetana Bohara (16 runs off 24 balls) were the highest contributors for Baitadi but their effort was not enough to avoid consecutive defeats.