U-19 WORLD CUP: Nepal meets Zimbabwe today

Nepal plays Zimbabwe in the second and final warm-up match of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup at Royal Military Ground, Malaysia on Thursday before leaving for Penang where it meets Sri Lanka on Febuary 17 in the first league match.

Nepal and Zimbabwe had met twice before in the event. Zimbabwe ended Nepal’s fairytale run by inflicting a defeat in the plate-final of the 2002 World Cup in New Zealand. In 2006, they had a nervous two-run win in first round.

On Tuesday, Nepal defeated Bermuda easily by 188 runs after bowling out the opponent for mere 57 runs. It was a resurrected performance for the team, which usually lacks in the batting depth, after two defeats in Bangladesh.

On Wednesday’s warm-up matches, an unbeaten 98 from Saurabh Tiwary made sure that India saw off their English counterparts by six wickets. England scored 219/8 - thanks to 113-run partnership between Dan Redfern and Ben Brown.

India lost first three wickets for just seven runs but Saurabh and Tanmay Srivastava calmed the innings with 134-run partnership for the win.

Defending champion Pakistan made up for its first warm-up defeat to England with a five-wicket defeat of Bangladesh. Ahmed Shahzad (79 not out) anchored the innings as Pakistan successfully chased Bangladesh’s total of 203 all out.

Elsewhere, hosts Malaysia put in a good all-round team effort to beat East Asia-Pacific qualifier Papua New Guinea by 59 runs. Muhammad Faizal scored 63 while Mohd Norwira got 40 as Malaysia reached 201/7.  Muhamad Nik Azril took 3-17 as PNG were bowled for 142.

New Zealand too had a comfortable victory over Ireland as George Worker scored 98 and Nick Beard claimed six wickets. Ireland crumbled to 133 despite 50-ball 72 from Paul Stirling chasing Black Caps’ 314/9.

Source: The Kathmandu Post 2008-02-14

U-19 WORLD CUP: Nepal defeats Bermuda in practice

Nepal achieved a moral-boosting win against Bermuda in the first warm-up match of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup at the Kilat Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday.

Nepal defeated Bermuda by 188 runs after bowling out the America region qualifier for 68 runs with captain Paras Khadka leading from the front with an all-round performance.

Paras scored 63 runs as Nepal raced to 256/8 in 50 overs. Paras’ 82-ball knock consisted five fours and two sixes. He also partnered 105 runs with Gyanendra Malla for the third wicket ensuring Nepal reach 159/3 by the end of 35th over.

Gyanendra was out first for 37 and five balls later Paras followed. Then, the remaining batsmen displayed some aggressive batting taking Nepal to a big score. Sagar Khadka remained unbeaten on 30 off 44 balls while Puspa Thapa hit two sixes for his 15-ball 20 and Rahul Biswokarma smashed 15 off 9 balls with a four and a six.

Earlier, Nepal elected to bat first after winning the toss. Openers Anil Mandal (21) and Mahesh Chhetri (15) put a foundation adding 52 runs in 12 overs. In space of just three balls, both returned to the pavilion handing Paras and Gyanendra the authority to build the innings.

Malachi Jones, who played for the Bermuda senior in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, picked up three wickets while teammate Jordan de Silva managed 2-31. Malachi was also the top scorer in the Bermuda innings hitting 15 off 32 balls.

Bermuda’s batting could not stand up to the discipline and ruthless attack of the Nepal bowlers, as no other batsmen managed to reach the double

figure.

Bermuda’s reply was wrapped up for 68 in the 25th over. Spinner Raj Shrestha and pacer Amrit Bhattarai took three wickets apiece while skipper Paras followed up his superb batting performance with a bowl, claiming two wickets.

Nepal now plays Zimbabwe, who lost to Australia by 10 wickets in the second warm-up match on Thursday.

Score boardNepal U-19 Innings

M.Chhetri c C.Douglas b De Silva 15 (35)

A.Mandal c P.Smith b De Silva 21 (3

G.Malla c K.Hodsoll b R.Trott 37 (55)

P.Khadka c Jordan De Silva b M.Jones 63 (82)

A.Gupta c & b K.Hodsoll 11 (16)

S.Khadka not out 30 (44)

P.Thapa b M.Jones 20 (15)

R.Vishwakarma b M.Jones 15 (9)

R.Shrestha run out (P.Smith) 0 (1)

A.Rana not out 1 (2)

Extras (b3 lb4 w36) 43

Total (for 8 wkts in 50 overs) 256

FoW: 52-1, 54-2, 159-3, 160-4, 183-5, 220, 240-7, 240-8

Bermuda Bowling: M.Jones 10-1-65-3, De Silva 10-1-31-2, K.Hodsoll 10-0-55-1, R.Trott 10-0-29-1, T.Tucker 6-0-39-0, C.Douglas 4-0-30-0

Bermuda U-19 Innings

C.Douglas c M.Chhetri b P.Khadka 2 (13)

T.Fray c M.Chhetri b P.Khadka 9 (27)

P.Smith b A.Bhattarai 0 (

R.Trott c & b A.Rana 8 (17)

R.Smith b A.Bhattarai 6 (10)

D.Darrell lbw b A.Bhattarai 0 (2)

M.Jones st M.Chhetri b R.Vishwakarma 15 (32)

De Silva c & b R.Shrestha 6 (25)

D.Hollis b R.Shrestha 0 (2)

K.Hodsoll b R.Shrestha 5 (6)

T.Tucker not out 0 (4)

Extras (lb2 w15) 17

Total (all out in 24.1 overs) 68

FoW: 7-1, 18-2, 20-3, 34-4, 38-5, 40-6, 57-7, 57-8, 68-9, 68-10

Nepal Bowling: A.Bhattarai 7-1-25-3, P.Khadka 5-0-12-2, A.Rana 4-0-14-1, R.Shrestha 5.1-3-7-3, R.Vishwakarma 3-1-8-1

Source: The Kathmandu Post 2008-02-13