Nepal concluded the South Asian Games (SAG) as expected with losses against Test nations and a solidarity win over Maldives.

On the bronze medal match against Pakistan, Nepal gave a tough fight. Winning toss, Nepal scored 147/6 in 20 overs but failed to defend it as Pakistan reached the target in the last over losing eight wickets. Pakistan claimed the bronze medal in the five-team events. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh reached the final.

Pradeep Airee scored unbeaten 52 for Nepal while captain Gyanendra Malla contributed 30 runs for Nepal.

Nepal finished fourth in the round-robin league of the Twenty20 cricket in U-21 winning against Maldives in the final league match on February 6.

Nepal vs Maldives

Anil Mandal produced a brilliant all-round show to led Nepal to an emphatic 10 wickets victory over Maldives at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Bowling medium pace, Mandal picked four wickets for nine runs in 3.4 overs after Maldives won the toss and elected to bat first.
Maldives were bowled out for 55 in 16.4 overs. Amrit Bhattarai and Bhuwan Karki each grabbed two wickets while Gyanendra took a wicket.

Nepal in reply romped home without any loss. Anil Mandal followed his four wickets by slamming an unbeaten 29 off 21 deliveries, striking three boundaries and one six. Subash Khakurel hit four boundaries in his 27 not out.

Nepal vs Pakistan

Pakistan beat Nepal by 91 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on February 3.

Pakistan Captain Umer Amin smashed powerful 53 of 32 that included four 4s and two 6s and Ali Asad banged an unbeaten 45 in 33 balls with three boundaries as batting first, they powered their team to 173/2 after electing to bat first.

Nepal in reply were restricted to 82/8 in 20 overs with spinner Nayyar Abbas and Kamran Hussain taking two wickets each.

Left hander openers Umar and Ali Waqas gave their team a flying start of 75 runs in 7.5 overs. Pakistan raced their 50 in 4.4 overs.

Ali Waqas made 27 in 25 balls with four boundaries before caught by substitute fieldsman Naresh Budair off Bhuwan Bhatta.

After Umer departed at 89 in 11th over, Ali Asad and Adil Amin plundered the weak Nepal bowling. Ali Asad got great support from Adil Amin, who hit a punishing unbeaten 35 after facing just 20 balls and it was spiced with four delightful boundaries.

Only three Nepal reached double figures with three failing to open their account. Pradeep hit two boundaries in his 21 and Gayandra Malla also 21 with solitary boundary.

Nepal vs Sri Lanka

On January 31, Nepal lost to Sri Lanka by 64 runs in at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi.

Electing to bat first, Sri Lanka scored 166/8. In reply, Nepal could only manage 102/3.

Rupesh Sriwastav was the pick of the Nepali bowlers with four wickets while Anil Mandal, Aakash Gupta and Gyanendra Malla claimed one apiece.

Mandal top scored with 28 runs while Pradeep Airee made 24 runs for Nepal. Subhash Khakurel also contributed 22 runs.

Nepal vs Bangladesh

Bangladesh made a flying start with an emphatic eight-wicket win in the inaugural match at the Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi on January 30.

Batting first after winning the toss, Nepal scored 80/7 in 20 overs with Binod Bhandari making 18, Subash 14, Gyanendra 14 and Sagar Khadka not out 10.

Sanjamul Islam claimed three wickets for 22 runs while Nazmul Islam, Ariful Haque, Shubhashis Roy and Emon Ahmed took one wicket each.

In reply, Bangladesh easily reached their target scoring 83 runs in 9.3 overs for the loss of two wickets with opener Mohammad Mithun hammering 41 runs off 21 balls that featured seven fours and a six.

Asif Ahmed scored not out 25 off 18 balls with four fours, Nasir Hossain made not out 9 off 10 balls and Rony Talukder 5 runs off 8 balls with a boundary. Bhuwan grabbed both the wickets giving away 37 runs.

Nepali cricket umpire Buddhi Pradhan and four others from the ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires’ Panel have been appointed for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers 2010 scheduled for February 9 to 13 in UAE.

Aleem Dar, the Umpire of the Year 2009, is the lone appointee from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires who will also be performing mentor’s role to the associate umpires.

Along with Pradhan, Sarika Prasad of Singapore, Jeff Luck, Paul Baldwin and Subhash Modi are named from the event. David Jukes and Ishtiaq Ahmed will be the referees for the tournament.

“It will provide an excellent opportunity to the Associate and Affiliate panel umpires to learn from Dar’s experience in a tournament environment,” the ICC statement said. “This is part of the ICC’s ongoing commitment to developing international-standards match officials.”

Pradhan will be officiating four matches as on-field umpire and two as third umpire in the group stage. He will also stand in two matches of super four. The officials for the final are yet to be announced.

The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier involves two groups of four teams with Ireland, Scotland, Afghanistan and the USA making up Group A while Kenya, the Netherlands, Canada and the UAE will fight it out for supremacy of Group B.

The two finalists will win the right to play in the ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010 which runs from 30 April to 16 May.

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has decided to honor Binaya Raj Pandey, the president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), with the ACC Lifetime Service Award under the Pepsi ICC Development Programme Awards 2010.

With the regional award, ACC has nominated Pandey for the ICC Lifetime Achievement Award which will be announced on February 28 in Dubai from among the regional winners of five ICC Development Regions.

This is the second time, a Nepali has been honored with the award. Jai Kumar Nath Shah won the award in 2003 and he went to win the ICC Global Award for the Lifetime Service.

“This is an honor to Nepali cricket, I am only an actor,” Pandey said. “This honor is for the country.”

Pandey also said that ACC evaluated his honesty for cricket. “This is a big honor for me, for my honesty for developing cricket in Nepal.”

Pandey is associated with CAN for four decades now. He is serving as the president for three years now after serving it as the general secretary for more than three decades.

During ICC’s Centenary Year celebration in 2009, Pandey and four other cricket officials received the ICC Centenary Award.

Along with Pandey, Nepal also received ACC award for Best Junior Cricket Initiative while Malaysia won three regional awards for Best Cricket Promotion and Marketing Program, Photo of the Year and Volunteer of the Year for Mohammad Sham Bin Jalil.

ACC Best Photo of the Year 2010. Photo Courtesy: Asian Cricket Council

Qatar and Bhutan won regional awards for the best Overall Cricket Development Program and the best Women’s Cricket Initiative respectively.

Last time Nepal won the regional award was in 2007 when Sudarshan Ranjit won the Best Photo Award and CAN won the Best Junior Cricket Initiative Award. In 2006, Nepal’s Region no 5 Nepalgunj won the Best Women’s Cricket Initiative Award that later also won the ICC Global Award.

In 2003, along with Shah, Nepal won the Best Cricket Promotion and Marketing Program Award.

The Pepsi ICC Development Programme Awards, now in its ninth year, recognizes and rewards the efforts of Associations and individuals who promote cricket in their countries.

“It was difficult to select the Asian winners this year since there were so many to choose from. There was very close competition but we really do appreciate the entries and I would like to wish all Associations the very best as they go forward into the global reckoning,” said ACC Development Manager Bandula Warnapura in the official website of the ACC.

he fixture and structure of the Twenty20 cricket in the 11th South Asian Games has been changed after India and Afghanistan decided not to compete of the event.

According to Nepal Olympic Committee, cricket will be now played on the round-robin league between the five participating teams – Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives. Top two teams will vie for the gold medal while third and fourth-place team will play for bronze.

The league matches will run from January 31 to February 6 while the final and the third-place playoff will be held on February 7.

Nepal will meet Bangladesh in the inaugural match at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium, Rajshahi (SKS) on January 31. Next day, they play Sri lanka at the same venue and meets Pakistan at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS), Mirpur on Feburary 3.

Nepal’s final league match will be on February 6 against the Maldives at SBNCS.

Notes:
1. SKS: Shahid Kamruz Jaman Stadium / SBNSC: Sher E Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka
2. Time is Bangladesh local time which is 1 hour 15 minutes (75 minutes) ahead of Nepal’s time.

Nepal will open its campaign in the ACC U-16 Elite Cup against Hong Kong at the TU Cricket Ground on March 8.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) released the fixture for the inaugural U-16 event to be held in Kathmandu.

On the first day, Kuwait plays Thailand at IOE Ground while Singapore meets Malaysia at BSAM Ground.

The event, to be participated by 10 non-Test playing nations of Asia, runs for 11 days with the final scheduled for March 18.

Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Bahrain complete the Group A while Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Thailand and Saudi Arabia comprise Group B.

Top two teams after the league round will qualify for the semifinals.

Groupings
Group A: Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain
Group B: Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Thailand, Saudi Arabia

Fixture

Date / Day	TU Ground	IOE Ground	BSAM Ground
March 6, Sat	Team arrival
March 7, Sun	Meeting / Practice Sessions
March 8, Mon	Nepal Vs Hong Kong	Kuwait Vs Thailand	Singapore Vs Malaysia
March 9, Tue	Kuwait Vs UAE	Nepal Vs Bahrain	Malaysia Vs Hong Kong
March 10, Wed	Singapore Vs Bahrain	UAE Vs Saudi Arabia	Qatar Vs Thailand
March 11, Thu	Qatar Vs Saudi Arabia	Singapore Vs Hong Kong	Nepal Vs Malaysia
March 12, Fri	Malaysia Vs Bahrain	--	UAE Vs Thailand
March 13, Sat	Kuwait Vs Saudi Arabia	Qatar Vs UAE	Bahrain Vs Hong Kong
March 14, Sun	Singapore Vs Nepal	Thailand Vs Saudi Arabia	Qatar Vs Kuwait
March 15, Mon	Rest day
March 16, Tue	SF1 – A1 Vs B2	SF2 – A2 Vs B1	9 & 10 – A5 Vs B5
March 17, Wed	7 & 8 – A4 Vs B4	5 & 6th place - A3 Vs B3	3rd-place play-off
March 18, Thu	FINAL

Captain Avinash Karn displayed a sensational bowling performance to help Region No 2 Birgunj lift the Boost U-16 National League Cricket Tournament defeating Region No 4 Bhairahawa by 36 runs at the TU Cricket Ground.

Winner Region No 2 Birgunj pose with the trophy. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com

Avinash took seven wickets as Birgunj bowled out Bhairahawa for 74 runs in 22.4 overs after scoring 110 in 35.3 overs in the final.

Electing to bat first, Birgunj, the unbeaten team in the round-robin league could only manage 110. Chandan Jha topscored with 47 runs off 93 balls with three fours. He and opener Chakra Prakash (21 off 55) were only two batsmen to score in double-digit and shared a 30-run partnership – the highest of the innings.

Satish Bhagat was pick of the bowler with 3/15 while Sushan Bari grabbed two wickets. Nabin Shrestha, Devendra Somare and Bibek Chaudhary each returned with a wicket.

Bhairahawa were probably looking for a revenge of the 10-wicket loss in the league but Birgunj proved that they did not bowl out them for 59 in that match on a fluke.

Bhairahawa managed to score better getting 74 but that was not enough. Only three batsmen – Kasam Thapa (17), Prakash KC (11) and Satish (10) – got double digit.

Avinash picked with 7 wickets in his 8 overs giving away 19 runs. Rajeev Shah picked up two and Gopal Singh got one wicket to end Bhairahawa’s dream.

It was Birgunj’s second title in the age-group national league after winning U-19 in March.

Avinash Karn 7/19 won the match for Birgunj.

Hari Chaulagain, the captain of Biratnagar, was adjudged best bowler of the event for his 12 wickets while Nepalgunj’s captain Washim Halwai took the award for best batsman for scoring 138 runs in five matches.

Chief Guest Minister for Youth and Sports Ganesh Tiwari Nepali gave away the prizes in the closing ceremony that was attended by ministry secretary Sushil Narsing J B Rana, Cricket Association of Nepal president Binaya Raj Pandey, CAN vice-presidents Upendra Prasad Bhattarai and Ramesh Silwal, CAN secretary Tarak Mani Dixit, CAN members Santosh Mardan Thapa, Arun Satyal, Binod Raj Rajbhandari, hosts Region NO 3 secretary Bijay Kumar Sharma, hosting committee member Naresh Rana and sponsor Arose Sthapit.

Region No 2 Birgunj practiced for the final with a 35-run win over hosts Region No 3 Kathmandu and remained unbeaten in the robin-league round with five victories.

At BSAM, they scored 187/7 and bowled out Kathmandu for 152. Meanwhile, Region No 5 Nepalgunj emerged the winner of the far-west honor battle with a huge 147-run victory over Region No 6 Baitadi at IOE Ground.

The final between unbeaten Birgunj and Region No 4 Bhairahawa which won four of five matches is scheduled for January 13 at the TU Cricket Ground.

Nepalgunj finished third with three wins while Kathmandu followed with two wins. Baitadi registered just one win while Region No 1 Biratnagar failed to win any of their five matches.

At Bhaktapur, Birgunj won the toss and elected to bat first. Despite losing two early wickets, 5/2 in 3 overs, Birgunj had Rahul Pratap Singh to score necessary runs.

Rahul and Chandan Jha added 81 runs for third wicket. Chandan got 20 off 57 balls with a boundary but ensured that the loss incurred by early wickets was amended.

Rahul was out at 122 scoring 68 runs off 93 balls with eight boundaries. Madhav Subedi (22 off 34 balls), Gopal Singh (run-a-ball 29 not out) and Avinash Karn (19 off 12 with 3 fours) as Birgunj raced to 187/7 in 40 overs.

Kathmandu began well and they were well on course scoring 100/4 in 25 overs but lost their initiatives thenafter losing three quick wickets to go down 104/7.

It was Gopal, who did the damage taking 5/27. Milan Thapa (46 off 91 balls with four boundaries) and No 9 Sujan Basnet (26 off 39 balls) were only batsmen to play with some responsibility. Sharad Khadka (15) and Bijaya Rokaya (16) were only other batsmen to score double-digit.

Birgunj bowlers gave away 36 extra runs in 38.3 overs while bowling out Kathmandu for 152. Mohd Athar took two wickets while Avinash, Rajeev Shah and Rakesh Shah each grabbed wicket. Gopal took the man of the match award.

Karamat Khan took 5/12 for Nepalgunj's big victory. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com

At Lalitpur, Nepalgunj saw three of their bastmen firing to score 204/9 in 40 overs before bowling out neighbor Baitadi for 57 in 15.4 overs.

Inamuddin Halwai scored 63 off 66 balls with 9 fours while Ainnudin Ansari got 39 off 40 with six fours and a six and Saroj Basnet remained unbeaten on 41 off 43 balls with a four and a six for Nepalgunj.

Inamuddin and Saroj were involved in a 88-run partnership for sixth wicket. For Baitadi, Yuddha Bikram Chand took 4/28 while Arjun Chapagaina nd Sameer Nagarkoti each grabbed two wickets.

In Baitadi innings, Nepalgunj seamers made it impossible to score. Karamat Khan’s five-for-12, Saud Ahmed Ansari’s 3/21 got Baitadi batsmen baffled. Bibek Sharma took two wickets in the innings that only saw one bastmen scoring double-digit – Yuddha (13 off 13).

Karamat was named man of the match.

Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com

Nepal has been drawn along with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in Group B for the South Asian Games (SAG) cricket, according to the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN).

In Group A, Sri Lanka, hosts Bangladesh and Maldives will play. SAG Cricket is the Twenty20 event for the U-21 teams of the region and has been included for the first time in regional sports meet.

According to schedule, Nepal’s first match is against Pakistan on February 2. The next day Nepal plays India and on February 3, they meet Afghanistan.

The fixture
(Changed on January 21 after India and Afghanistan pulled out)

SKS: Shahid Kamruz Jaman Stadium
SBNSC: Sher E Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka

After losing out Twenty20 by a wicket, National Team made the contest even with a 90-run victory over the U-21 Team in a 40-over practice match at the TU Cricket Ground.

National Team scored 193/9 in 40 overs – thanks to Shakti Gauchan’s 82 after Paras Khadka chose to bat first. In reply, U-21 Team was bowled out for 103 in 30 overs.

The highlights of National Team’s innings were Shakti’s knock and Chandra Saud’s bowling figure. While Shakti made 82 off 116 balls with five boundaries and featured in a 60-run partnership with Dipendra Chaudhary, Chandra took 5/49.

Dipendra scored 29 off 39 balls while other contribution came from Sharad Vesawkar (18), Paras (14) and Sagar Pun (12). U-21 Team also gave away 23 extras – 13 alone by Chandra.

Chandra grabbed top three and bottom two batsmen while Anil Mandal took two for 30 and Pradeep Airee took a wicket.

U-21 began badly losing top three men early. From 23/3, captain Gyanendra Malla and Prithu Baskota stabilized the innings with 52-run partnership before Prithu was out for 13. The lower order failed against spinners as the remaining six wickets fell for 28 runs in 10 overs.

Gyanendra scored 41 off 55 with four boundaries and a six.

Off spinner Sanjam Regmi took 3/10 while Rahul Kumar BK (2/7), Basanta Regmi (2/18) and Binod Das (2/16) were other wicket takers.

The National Team is training for the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 while U-21 Team is training for the South Asian Games.

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.