Region No 4 Bhairahawa entered the final of the Boost U-16 National League Cricket Tournament defeating hosts Region No 3 Kathmandu in a crucial league match by eight wickets.
Nepalgunj's Saud Ahmed Ansari (6/14) bowls as umpire Raman Siwakoti watches. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
Nischal Pandey emereged hero of the victory with an all-round performance while in the other dead-match, Region No 5 Nepalgunj defeated Region No 1 Biratnagar by three wickets.
With the results, Bhairahawa qualified for the final against Region No 2 Birgunj while once super-weight of Nepali cricket Biratnagar lost all five matches.
At BSAM Ground, Kathmandu’s decision to bat first hit back dearly as Navin Shrestha and Nischal bowled their hearts out to end the innings at 66 in 27 overs. Nischal took five wickets giving away 11 runs in 8 overs while Navin grabbed three for 28 runs in 7 overs.
For Kathmandu, only three batsmen reached double-digit – Dilman Rokka (19), Nupur Pandey (10) and Roshan Khatri (15) while six batsmen did not score.
Bijaya Rokaya trapped Swichan Shah on the first ball while Bhairahawa began the chase but 42-run partnership between Satish Bhagat (9) and Nischal put the foundation to complete the victory in 13.3 overs.
Kiran Pandey (16 not out of 10 balls) and Nischal won the match for Bhairahawa. Nischal remained unbeaten on run-a-ball 37 with five fours.
At IOE Ground, Biratnagar did better than Kathmandu after choosing to bat first. With captain Hari Chaulagain topscoring along with Lilan Kharel (18) and Rimesh Regmi (14) took them to 109 in 22.3 overs. Hari scored 32 off 29 balls with five fours.
Opening seamer Saud Ahmad Ansari took six wickets for 14 runs while Karamat Khan took three wickets.
Nepalgunj faced hardtimes chasing the score but they managed to register victory in 29 overs with three wickets remaining. Opener Prajwal Shahi got 31 off 79 balls while Rupal Nepali (13) and Greethi Rokka (12) contributed.
Sumit Chandra Dev (3/18) and Lilan (2/21) were picks of Biratnagar bowlers. Ansari took man of the match award.
On January 12, Birgunj plays Kathmandu at BSAM Ground while Nepalgunj meets Region No 6 Baitadi in the battle of far-west at IOE Ground in the last matches of league.
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I have been enjoying the photos of this tournament. Great to see teams in distinct uniforms for a change. Here is a blog post I wrote on the subject: http://www.rangasala.com/2010/01/cricket-gets-boost-of-colors.html