Two centuries were witnessed in a single match of the Women’s National Cricket Tournament on Saturday, a day after Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) captain Nary Thapa scored the first century in the history of Nepali women’s cricket.
Rekha Rawal and Anjali Chand of Region No 6 (Baitadi) scored unbeaten centuries against Region No 8 (Pokhara) at the Pulchowk Engineering Ground, Lalitpur.
Rawal smashed unbeaten 131 runs off 98 balls including 19 boundaries. Rawal reached the magical three digits figure in 74 balls.
Meanwhile, Chand clobbered unbeaten 111 runs off 95 balls including 15 boundaries. Chand reached the 100-mark off 90 balls.
As Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) used to conduct women’s cricket matches of only 25 overs in the past, centuries were rare feat. As soon as CAN started the 40-over matches, woman cricketers got opportunity to reach the landmark figures.
Riding on the two centuries, Baitadi, which elected to bat, put up massive 362/1 in allotted 40 overs. Dropati Kunwar scored 31 runs off 58 balls before Prabha Nepali dismissed her.
In reply, Pokhara was all out for 133 run in 31.2 overs. Arati Bidari scored 51 runs off 66 balls and Arya Aryal added 24 runs off 41 balls but their effort went in vain.
Player-of-the-match Rawal was in role again when she came to bowl. Rawal took four wickets. Janaki Bhatta claimed three wickets.
On the other hand, the match between Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club and Region No 7 (Janakpur) as well as Region No 3 (Kathmandu) and Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) remained low-scoring affairs on Saturday. APF registered consecutive second victory in the tournament as it defeated Region No 7 (Janakpur) by two wickets at the Army Cricket Ground, Bhaktapur. Meanwhile, Kathmandu beat Bhairahawa by three wickets at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.
Janakpur elected to bat but was all out for only 59 runs in 18.2 overs. APF bowlers gave away 26 runs as extras. Otherwise, Saraswoti Chaudhary (unbeaten 14 runs off 19 balls) was the only batter to reach double-digit score.
Player-of-the-match Sita Rana Magar claimed four wickets for APF while Binu Budhamagar took two wickets. Sonu Khadka, Rubina Chhetri and Karuna Bhandari dismissed a batter each.
Despite chasing the low total, APF suffered jolts and won the match with only two wickets. APF reached at 60/8 in 19 overs. Jyoti Pandey scored 17 runs off 27 balls for APF. Saraswoti Chaudhary claimed three wickets while Anuradha Chaudhary took two.
At the TU Ground, Kathmandu elected to field first and bundled out Bhairahawa at 66 runs in 25.4 overs as player-of-the-match Kamala Rai claimed four wickets and Sangeeta Gauchan took three wickets. Shanti Khatiwada dismissed two batters while Ashmita Kharel took a wicket.
Kathmandu bowlers gave away 30 runs as extras. Otherwise, Prabina Khadka (16 runs off 28 balls) was the only Bhairahawa batter to produce double-digit score.
In reply, Kathmandu reach 67/7 in 14.1 overs as Ashmin Karmacharya remained unbeaten with 17 runs off 17 balls. Bhairahawa gave away 20 runs as extras. Indu Berma claimed three wickets for Bhairahawa while Soniya Paudel took two.