Subash Khakurel scored 140 as Kathmandu amassed 322/9 in 50 overs to beat Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) by 144 runs at the IOE Ground, Pulchowk. At TU Ground, Bibek Chaudhary took 7 wickets to bowl out Region No 2 (Birgunj) for 61 in 19.1 overs as Bhairahawa win by 60 runs.

Subash, coming as an opener, scored 140 in 109 balls with 15 fours and four sixes as the Kathmandu top order reaped runs at ease. Rajesh Pulami scored 54 off 58 balls with two fours and two sixes, Prithu Baskota got 30 off 17, Ujjwal Thapa 29 off 39 and Sharad Khadka 26 off 56.

Inamuddin Halwai was the most successful bowler with 4/72. Sunil Sunar took 2/33 in his 10 overs. Subendu Pandey and Siddhant Shahi also claimed a wicket each.

Rupesh Sharma tried to tie the Nepalgunj innings with fighting 99 off 101 balls with 9 fours and four sixes but he did not got solid support from his teammates and ran out of partners in 39 overs with team on 178. He remained unbeaten a run short of century. The next highest score for Nepalgunj was Navaraj Shahi’s 12.

Sabin Shrestha was the chief destroyer with 5/36. Prithu and Rochak Bhatta each grabbed two wicekts and Bijay Gautam took the remaining one.

At TU, Bibek bowled an unforgettable spell. Introduced in eighth over with Birgunj 35/1, Bibek began with removing Amit Shrestha (21) lbw and did not stop. He bowled 6.1 overs giving away 7 runs and taking 7 wickets. Krishna Karki and Krishna Sen grabbed a wicket each to end Birgunj’s innings early.

Earlier, Bhairahawa won the toss and scored 121 in 44.4 overs. Faizrul Rahman Khan topscored with 30 off 36 balls, Sagar Pun and Krishna Sen got 16 each.

Bibek Dali was the most successful bowler with 4/11 in 10 overs. Avinash Karn grabbed 3/30 and Mohd Hasim 2/12.

On December 17, Kathmandu plays Region No 1 (Biratnagar) at TU and Bhairahawa plays Region No 6 (Baitadi) at IOE Ground.

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Led by captain Akash Singh Pariyar and Kanchan Thapa’s knocks, Birgunj scored 169 in 49 overs before bowling out Nepalgunj for 51 runs in 21.1 overs.

It was second title for Birgunj, who won the inaugural edition in 2000. Interestingly, Birgunj failed to reach final of other three editions.

Nepalgunj were set a revised target of 151 runs in 39 overs after rain interrupted the match but Birgunj ensured the win very early in the innings making it 22/7 in 14th over.

Pacer Jatta Shankar Sarraf bowled his heart out and his performance (3 for 10 runs in 6 overs) wrecked Nepalgunj’s innings to 16/4 in 10th over. Avinash Karn grabbed the other wicket.

Bibek Dali then bowled out Sandeep Shrestha and trapped Bhupendra Thapa to make it 21/6. The last four wickets went to Hasim Ansari, who concluded the match with a figure of 4/6 in 4.2 overs.

Nepalgunj’s top scorers were opener Bidhan Giri (16) and No 10 Navin Shahi (12); they were also the only batsmen to hit boundaries, three in total.

Earlier, Birgunj elected to bat first. Though the opening pair put up 30 runs, it was skipper Akash (40 off 94 balls) and Kanchan (32 off 34) who took Birgunj to a defendable total. Handy contributions came from Hasim (16), Ramji Kumar Kanu (14), Kumar Thapa (11), Dipendra Kumar Raut (11) and Sumit Shrestha (10).

Opening pacer Navin Shahi led the bowlers with three wickets while Sandeep and Subendu Pandey each grabbed two wickets. Nepalgunj’s bowling performance however let them down as they gave away 26 extra runs.

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Biratnagar were 129/3 in 32 overs chasing Baitadi’s 157 when rain prematurely ended the match. Biratnagar were five runs ahead under Duckworth Lewis System and declared the winner.

Biratnagar had a fine opening partnership. Sunny Pun got a fine half-century (52 off 92 balls) and was unbeaten while his partner Rajan Khadgi got 41 off 60 before becoming a victim of Bhuwan Karki. Iraj and Ravi Roy ran out themselves quickly before Somesh Yadav (unbeaten 14 off 19) got the team going until the rain.

Earlier, Baitadi’s openers partnered 70 runs to give the team an edge but once man of the match Amit Dahal started taking wickets, he made batting looked all difficult. His three wickets brought Baitadi down to 92/3 from 70/0 in space of eight overs.

Amit got both openers – Santosh Thapa (32 off 100 balls) and Raghu Sunar (39 off 55) and hardhitting Pradeep Airee (5). Naresh Budayar failed today scoring only five runs but Kuldeep Khadka got the team going with quickfire 34 off 39 balls with three fours and a six. He was out as seventh wicket and his team was on 141. The lower order put a few runs while pacer Iraj Shrestha took three wickets for Biratnagar.

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Birgunj will now play Region No 3 Kathmandu who defeated Region No 5 Nepalgunj by three wickets to finish at the top of the table of Group A. Nepalgunj plays Region No 4 Bhairahawa on other semifinal.

Electing to bat first at BSAM Ground, Birgunj scored 198 in 44.3 overs – the highest number of runs, 36, coming from extras and bowled out Baitadi for 144 in 40 overs.

Man of the match Naresh Budayar played a valiant knock of 50 off 85 balls but could not save his team from losing out. Pradeep Airee played a knock of 35 off 46 with five fours and Chandra Saud scored 26 off 41 but they were the only batsmen to score double-figure.

For Birgunj, Hasim Ansari took three wickets whereas Avinash Karn, Manish Srivastav and Bibek Dali took two wickets each.

Earlier, Birgunj benefitted from twenties from five batsmen to post a good total. Sumit Shrestha (29), Binay Kumar Shah (26), Ramji Kumar Kanu (28 not out), Kanchan Thapa (21) and No 10 Kumar Thapa (21) all contributed to the total. Chandra and Bhuwan Karki took three wickets each for Baitadi.

At TU Ground, Kathmandu outplayed Nepalgunj to finish top of the table. Electing to bat first, Nepalgunj could only manage 94 in 33.5 overs; the score Kathmandu surpassed in 31.5 overs losing seven wickets.

Rupesh Srivastav and Prithu Baskota each took three wickets while Ritesh Singh and Raman Shrestha took two wickets each to bowl out Nepalgunj cheaply. The highlight of the innings, however, was Anupam Singh’s lone battle against the odds. Anupam remained unbeaten on 42 off 114 balls while Shahid Riza (16) and Sandeep Shrestha (10) were only other batsmen to score some runs in the innings that saw four batsmen going out for duck.

Kathmandu’s reply was not convincing as they lost early wickets. They were 49/4 in 17 overs. Captain Gyanendra Malla topscored with 25 and Rom Shrestha got not out 16 along with Indra Kamal Manandhar’s 19 for Kathmandu’s victory.

Navin Shahi and Shahid were picks of the bowlers with two wickets each while Sandeep, Sunil Sunar and Subendu Pandey each grabbed a wicket.

On Friday, Biratnagar meets Baitadi for the fifth-place playoff. Semifinals are scheduled for Sunday.

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Region No 1 (Biratnagar) crashed out the event after a three-wicket defeat against Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) at BSAM Ground – a result that also confirmed semifinal berth for Nepalgunj and Region No 3 (Kathmandu).

Bhairahawa topped Group B with two wins while the runners-up will be the winner of Thursday’s match between Baitadi and Region No 2 (Birgunj). Kathmandu and Nepalgunj will vie for the top position of Group A on Thursday.

Baitadi won the toss and elected to bat first. They however could not materialize much after being bowled out in 30.1 overs for only 82 runs. Only Naresh Budayar (27 off 41 balls), Ashok Chand (14 off29) and Prashant Bista (13 off 27) reached double-figure.

Lal took three wickets giving away 14 runs in his eight overs while Amrit Bhattarai, Bal Bahadur Thapa and Rahul BK each took two wickets.

Bhairahawa’s innings too was not commendable as they lost seven wickets for the victory in 22nd over. Only opener Subash Pradhan (12 off 26) made some runs but they hugely utilized 21 wides for the victory.

Bhuwan Karki (3 for 15) was the pick of the bowler while Chandra Saud, Pradeep Airee and Naresh each took a wicket.

At BSAM, Biratnagar won the toss and elected to bat first. Despite losing Rajan Khadgi early, Sunny Pun batted very well for a worthy half-century. His 70 off 92 deliveries with eight fours was the highlight of the match.

Sunny and Somesh Yadav (28) partnered 78 runs for second wicket. Ravi Roy’s 35 off 55 and Anup Karki’s 16 took Biratnagar to a good total of 192/9 in 50 overs.

For Nepalgunj, Sunil Sunar took three wickets while Navin Shahi and Shahid Riza each grabbed two.

Nepalgunj too lost an opener soon but the second wicket partnership yielded 88 runs for them with Bidhan Giri and Shahid scoring easily. Man of the match Shahid, trapped leg before in 22nd over, made 61 off 57 balls with 12 fours to put Nepalgunj on top. Bidhan made 43 off 90.

Then it was Anupam Singh (38 off 61), Sandeep Shrestha (22 off 47) and Subendu Pandey (10 off 14) who took Nepalgunj to victory and semifinal.

Nepalgunj’s victory also shadowed a four-wicket haul of Nirjal Chhetri. He bowled well giving away only 28 runs in his 10 overs.

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Riding on captain Gyanendra Malla’s unbeaten 48, Kathmandu defeated Region No 1 (Biratnagar) by six wickets at the TU Cricket Ground while Lal Bahadur Adhikari’s all-round performance gave Bhairahawa a 29-run victory over Region No 2 (Birgunj) at the BSAM Ground.

At BSAM, Antim Thapa won the toss and elected to bat first. Sanjay Nepal went on early but Subash Pradhan and Antim carried on the innings with run-a-ball 42-run partnership. Subash (34 off 38 balls) fell to left-arm seamer Avinash Karn while Antim (17 off 24) ran himself out.

Lower-order batsmen made handy contributions with Lal making 37 and Rahul BK scoring 31 in the best partnership of the innings that produced 69 runs for eighth wicket. Akash Gupta got 18 and Sagar Khadka made 18 as the innings folded up in 46 overs with 184 runs on board.

Avinash, Bibek Dali, Kumar Thapa and Dipendra Kumar Raut each walked away with two wickets.

Birgunj’s innings began well with Sumit Shrestha and captain Akash Pariyar giving a solid partnership of 38 runs in 11 overs. Lal started with Sumit, who scored 28 off 32 balls, and got Hasim Ansari (4) quickly to make it 43/2.

Akash (12 off 61) fell to Sagar as Birgunj batsmen struggled to score runs. Sagar, Lal and Rahul each grabbed three wickets to fold up Birgunj’s innings at 155 in 47.1 overs. Kanchan Thapa (22), Bibek Dali (20) and Binay Shah (19) made some runs.

At TU, Gyanendra led from front in both batting, and surprisingly bowling, for his team’s convincing victory. Biratnagar elected to bat first and scored 142 in 43.3 overs with opener Sunny Pun being the top scorer with 43 off 67 balls before felling to Prithu Baskota.

Sunny’s effort rescued Biratnagar’s batting as the team was once reeling at 24/3 as pacer Rupesh Srivastav bowled well to take all three wickets within seventh over. Sunnay partnered Ravi Roy (23 off 58) for 67 runs before Ravi became Gyanendra’s first victim.

Biratnagar lost four wickets for mere three runs to go down to 94/7 from 91/3. Only Santosh Adhikari’s valiant 19 off 36 took them to a fighting total. Prithu and Gyanendra each took three wickets as Ritesh Singh took the remaining wicket.

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The winner of the event will represent Asia in the ICC U-19 World Cup 2010 in Kenya. Nepal has represented Asia in the world event five times in a row.

Saudi Arabia qualified to play in the event winning the ACC U-19 Challenge Cup in 2008.

Nepal and Saudi Arabia are in Group A that also consists Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Group B of the event has Afghanistan, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bhutan.

In the league round, Nepal will then meet Hong Kong (April 24), Malaysia (April 25) and Singapore (April 27). The semifinals between top two teams from each group will be on April 29 while May 1 is the big day for the final.

“The U-19 Elite competition is strongly competitive,” ACC Events Executive K K Haridas said. “Most teams will be trying to defeat Nepal. It will surely be an interesting tournament.”

Nepal won the event in 2001 (Kathmandu, Nepal), 2003 (Karachi, Pakistan), 2005 (Kathmandu, Nepal) and 2007 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).

The Complete Fixture

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Two-time defending champion Bhairahawa, after a bad start, was on track to defend the title with Akash Gupta going good at 28 when he set off for a quick single. He reached the other end where No 8 Govinda Karki stood still not even interested in sacrificing his wicket for the in-form batsman as Sharad hits the stumps.

It all happened off the first ball of the 20th over when Bhairahawa was 79/6 chasing Kathmandu’s 110 in rain-reduced 26-overs per side match. Bhairahawa had lost Govinda Pradhan and Faizal Khan, both of whom did not score, in the second over bowled by Paras Khadka.

Antim Thapa (16) and Subash Pradhan (8) added 27 before both fell in Rom Shrestha’s first over making it 33/4 in 10 overs. Sagar Khadka and Akash revived the visitors’ hopes adding 41 runs in 45 balls.

Sagar was deceived by a slower delivery by Paras after scoring 11. In the next ball, Rahul BK was run out by Gyanendra Malla as Bhairahawa went down to 72/6. Akash looked in good touch hitting two sixes off Raj Shrestha and a four before the misfortune hit.

Lal Bahadur Adhikari (8) and Amrit Bhattarai (5) tried to reach the target but rejuvenated Kathmandu bowled them 16 runs short. Paras claimed four wickets for nine runs while Rom and Sharad each took two.

Earlier, Kathmandu won the toss and elected to bat first. It lost both the openers for 14 runs before Sharad anchored the innings with a half-century. Sharad hit four boundaries and a six for his 52 runs off 49 balls before he was brilliantly caught by Rahul off his own bowling.

The champions!

Paras got 20 while all other batsmen failed to get to double-digit. Bal Bahadur took three including two early wickets while Rahul and Sagar took two each. Three Kathmandu batsmen ran themselves out trying to accelerate run-rate.

Brief Score: Kathmandu 110 in 22.4 overs (S Vesawkar 52, P Khadka 20, ) beat Bhairahawa 94 all out in 25 overs (A Gupta 28, P Khadka 4wkt) by 16 runs.

Awards:
Champions – Region No 3 Kathmandu (Rs. 25,000)
Man of the Final – Sharad Vesawkar (Rs. 5,000)
Man of the Series – Sharad Vesawkar (Rs. 15,000)
Best Batsman – Antim Thapa (Rs. 10,000)
Best Bowler – Santosh Baral (Rs. 10,000)

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Bal Bahadur Thapa of Bhairahawa goes numb after losing the final.

Man of the final Sharad Vesawkar (52 runs, 2 wickets)

Best bowler Santosh Baral (10 wickets in 3 matches).

Best batsman Antim Thapa (125 runs in 4 matches).

Man of the Series Sharad Vesawkar (242 runs/6 wickets in 4 matches).

Runners-up Region No 4 Bhairahawa coach Shankar Rana, captain Antim Thapa take trophy from National Sports Council member-secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha.

Region No 3 Kathmandu coach Samson Thapa and captain Paras Khadka take winner’s trophy from education and sports state minister.

Photos by Nepal Photo Agency

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Kathmandu set up the final with defending champions Bhairahawa as the repeat of last year’s final with a 72-run victory over Nepalgunj at the TU Cricket Ground.

Region No 3 Kathmandu scored 152 in 48.4 overs before bowling out Region No 5 Nepalgunj for 80 runs in 38.1 overs. Yesterday, Region No 2 Bhairahawa had defeated Region No 1 Biratnagar in the first semifinal.

When the final will be played on Saturday it would be an opportunity for Kathmandu to avenge the seven-wicket loss it had suffered last year in the final.

On Friday, Nepalgunj won the toss and elected to first. Kathmandu lost Dipen Shrestha quickly brining in Sharad Vesawkar. Vesawkar looked in a good touch scoring 25 runs off 31 balls with three fours but he was caught by Deep Raj Shakya off Nasir Ansari making it 39/2.

Subash Khakurel (13) followed soon bowled by Nasir before Gyanendra Malla along with captain Paras Khadka partnered 46 runs for fourth wicket. Paras was stumped by Ganesh Chhetri off Subendu Pandey for 31 off 31 balls while Gyanendra ensured Kathmandu cross the three-digit mark before being stumped off Sandeep Shrestha for 25.

Subendu then added two more while Sahid Riza got one as Kathmandu went down to 122/8 from 92/3. Abhaya Rana scored 21 off 30 balls to get his team past 150 and was the last man out bowled by Naveen Shahi.

The target was achievable and Nepalgunj camp knew it. But they required a good batting from top order to achieve the target but failed on that front.

Apart from Deep Raj 920) and Subendu (14), no other batsmen could reach the doubel-digit score and the whole team were bowled out for 80 runs in 38.1 overs. Ritesh Singh and man of the match Sharad each took three wickets while Raj Shrestha got two.

Brief Score: Kathmandu 152 in 48.4 overs (P Khadka 31, S Vesawkar 25, G Malla 25, S Pandey 3/40) defeated Nepalgunj 80 in 38.1 overs (D Shakya 20, R Singh 3/13, S Vesawkar 3/12) by 72 runs.

Photo by Nepal Photo Agency

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