Nepal APF Club and Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) started the Women’s National Cricket Tournament on the winning notes as it began on Thursday.
APF thrashed Region No 1 (Biratnagar) by 110 runs at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur while Nepalgunj edged past Region No 2 (Birgunj) by seven wickets at the Army Cricket Ground, Bhaktapur.
As Biratnagar elected to field first, APF put up 185/6 in allotted 40 overs. Later, Biratngar was all out for 75 runs in 28.4 overs.
Opener Sita Rana Magar scored 63 runs off 64 balls for the departmental teams. Player-of-the-match Rana Magar struck nine boundaries. Sarita Rana Magar remained unbeaten with 40 runs off 62 balls while Jyoti Pandey added 25 runs off 40 balls. Sangita Rai, Sabnam Rai, Neha Karki and Sanjana Budhathoki claimed a wicket each for Biratnagar.
Chasing the total, six batters of Biratnagar got out without scoring a run. Sonu Khadka and Karuna Bhandari claimed three wickets each for APF while Rubina Chhetri and Sarita Magar took two wickets each to bundle out Biratnagar. Rashmi Sharma (32 runs off 66 balls) and Sabina Shrestha (22 runs off 53 balls) were the only batters with double-digit scores.
At Army Ground, Bhaktapur, Birgunj elected to bat and put up only 97 runs losing all its wickets in 28.4 overs. Samana Pun dismissed three Birgunj batters while Nary Thapa, Trishna Singh and Samjhana Sharma took two wickets each. Anu KC claimed a wicket to rattle Birgunj. Rachana Aryal and Rojina Aryal became the top scorers for Birgunj with 14 runs each.
Nepalgunj chased the total successfully in 14 overs losing only three wickets as captain Nary Thapa blasted 52 runs off 46 balls. She clobbered 10 boundaries to seal the easy victory. She was adjudged player-of-the-match.
Nepalgunj will take on Region No 3 (Kathmandu) at the TU Ground on Friday while Birgunj will clash with Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) at the Army Ground.