Region No 7 (Janakpur) recovered from a slow start to record its first victory in the Women’s National Cricket Tournament after middle-order batswomen Kabita Gautam and Saraswati Chaudhary both scored half-centuries to defeat Region No 8 (Pokhara) by 147 runs victory at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Sunday.
Region No 1 (Biratnagar) also opened its account defeating Region No 6 (Baitadi) by six wickets in another Group A encounter at the Army ground in Bhaktapur.
Meanwhile, Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) beat Region No 9 (Kanchanpur) by 74 runs in a Group B meeting at the Pulchowk Engineering Ground for its second win in three matches.
The win took Janakpur to third in the Group A standings, level on two points with second-place Baitadi and two points behind leader Armed Police Force, who has won both its matches. Fourth-place Biratnagar also has two points from two matches while Pokhara lies at the bottom without a point.
With two wins from three matches, Bhairahawa climbed into second position in Group B on four points, level with leader Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) and two points ahead of third-place Region No 3 (Kathmandu). Both Nepalgunj and Kathmandu have played a match less than Bhairahawa. Fourth and fifth placed Birgunj and Kanchanpur, which has played only one match, remain pointless.
Opting to bat first Janakpur made a poor start and was at one stage 23/3, with 14 runs coming from extras. But skipper Gautam and Chaudhary, batting at number four and five, rescued the team with a 127-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Chaudhary struck five fours during her knock of 55 runs off 67 balls before being caught and bowled by Karina Gurung. Gautam fell to Prabha Nepali soon after, having made 58 runs off 83 balls with four boundaries.
Mamata Chaudhary, caught and bowled by Sadiksha Pandey, contributed 28 runs to take Janakpur’s total to 194 runs, which included 39 runs from extras. Rest of the batswomen failed to reach double figures.
Gurung and Pandey claimed two wickets each for Pokhara while Arya Aryal bagged one wicket.
Chasing a modest target, Pokhara surrendered meekly as Arya Aryal (16 runs off 39 balls) was the only batswoman to reach double figures. Santoshi Chaudhary and Shanti Chaudhary claimed three wickets each to skittle the opponents for 47 runs in 25.5 overs. Saraswati Chaudhary, Anuradha Chaudhary and Kabita Gurung took a wicket each.
Meanwhile, openers Barsha Rana and Prabina Khadka scored 32 and 67 runs respectively as Bhairahawa reached 197 runs after winning the toss and choosing to bat first. Skipper Indu Berma contributed 24 runs. Bhairahawa’s total included 67 runs from extras.
In reply, Kanchanpur was all out for 123 runs in 26.5 overs with Roshani Bohara (36) and Bimala Bhatta (17) the only two batswomen to make notable contributions with the bat.
In another match, Baitadi opted to bat first and was all out for 86 runs in 28 overs. In reply, Biratnagar achieved the small target losing four wickets in 31.2 overs.