Nepal cricket team maintained its winning streak in its Sri Lanka tour and registered a 16-run victory over Bloomfield Club in the fourth and the last practice match on Thursday.
Nepal elected to bat and put up 246/8 in the allotted 50 overs as skipper Paras Khadka scored yet another half-century. In reply, Bloomfield was all out for 230 runs in 49.4 overs as pacer Sompal Kami and spinner Basant Regmi claimed three wickets each.
Openers Subash Khakurel and Anil Mandal put up an 84-run partnership to give platform to excel to the other batsmen. Mandal scored 38 runs off 63 balls before departing in the 21st over. Khakurel (41 runs off 82 balls) and Gyanendra Malla (one run off seven balls) fell in quick succession.
Skipper Khadka and Sharad Vesawkar produced a 75-run stand for the fourth wicket. Khadka scored 62 runs off 58 balls including four boundaries and two sixes. Vesawkar garnered 36 runs off 65 balls.
Binod Bhandari made a quick-fired 28 runs off 12 balls to guide Nepal to a defendable total against the Sri Lankan club. He struck three sixes and a boundary. Sagar Pun scored five runs off three balls and Basant Regmi hit nine runs off six balls while Pradeep Airee remained unbeaten with two.
Imran Khan, Amila Aponsu and Adeesha Nanayakkara took two wickets each for Bloomfield while Kirshan Weeraratne and Nipun Karunaratne claimed a wicket each.
Bloomfield lost its first wicket at the total score of 38 runs and kept on losing in regular intervals. Spinner Regmi took three wickets by bowling 7.4 overs with two maidens and giving away only 25 runs. Meanwhile, pacer Kami gave away 47 runs to claim three wickets in his 10 overs. Avinash Karn and Shakti Gauchan took a wicket each.
Sadun Ranatunga top-scored for Bloomfield with 48 runs while Nipun Karunaratne (31 runs) and Adeesha Nanayakkara (29 runs) were the other major contributors.
Nepal had defeated Moors Cricket Club by two wickets and Colts Cricket Club by four wickets in the first two practice matches. Nepal, then, beat Sri Lanka Ports Authority by two-wickets on Tuesday.
Nepal team is scheduled to leave Sri Lanka on Thursday night to participate in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers to be held in New Zealand from January 16 to February 1, 2014. Nepal has a plan to have some practice sessions and matches in New Zealand before playing in the qualifiers.