Region no 3 (Kathmandu) maintained its winning streak, defeating Region no 2 (Birgunj) to fix semifinal date against ´comparatively easy´ opponent – an emerging winner of group A – on Thursday in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament being held in the capital.
In the clash of already qualified teams for the semifinals, Kathmandu overcame Birgunj by two wickets to get Region no 7 (Janakpur), the group B runner-up, as the opponent for entry into the final.
Birgunj will meet Region no 9 (Kanchanpur), the winner of group A, in the last four. Both the semifinal matches will be held on Friday. Put to bat first at the Bhaktapur ground, Birgunj was bundled out for a paltry total of 125 runs in 37.2 overs as the player of the match Sompal Kami grabbed five wickets. In the run chase, Kathmandu made 129/8 in 30.5 overs.
Vikram Basnet (43), Amit Shrestha and Anil Shah (21 each) contributed for Birgunj. Kathmandu also could not have a sound start in batting as it lost five wickets for 71 runs.
But the sixth and the seventh order batsmen Kami and Khadka contributed 17 runs. Similarly the next batsman Arjun Adhikari scored 26 runs. Ram Naresh Giri and Irshad Ahamed of Birgunj pocketed three wickets apiece.
In another match, Region no 5 (Nepalgunj) overcame Region no 4 (Bhairahawa) to wrap up with consolation win at the TU ground, Kirtipur. Both the teams have already crashed out of the group round.
Similarly, Region no 1 (Biratnagar) achieved its first win in the tournament over Region no 6 (Baitadi) by 50 runs before returning home. Baitadi finished pointless losing all three matches of the group stage.