Mehboob bowls Biratnagar to victory

THE KATHMANDU POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, April 1 - On a minnow-bashing day, Mehboob Alam was virtually unplayable as Region No 6 Baitadi crumbled down to the lowest total of the Springwood National League Cricket Tournament at the TU Ground on Tuesday.

Mehboob took 7/25 - the second best bowling in nationals as Baitadi was bowled out for 44 in 12.4 overs - two less than Nepalgunj’s 46 in 2002. Baitadi was chasing Region No 1 Biratnagar’s 244.

The 200-run victory margin is also the biggest of the event breaking Region No 4 Bhairahawa’s 199-run victory over Region No 5 Nepalgunj in 2003. Similarly, Bhairahawa bowled out Nepalgunj for 50 in 26.2 overs to record a 165-run win.

Mehboob however failed to break Ritesh Baral’s figures of 7/14 recorded against Nepalgunj in the inaugural match of the event in 2002. He could have broken that too had he not been hit for 17 runs in his second over including three consecutive fours by Binod Bhandari (18 of 13 balls), who unnecessarily ran himself out. Mehboob bowled out Rabindra Chand, who tried to step out on the second ball, and Uttam Chand in the first over and took three wickets in four balls of the seventh over to end Baitadi’s innings early. Manjeet Shrestha took two wickets.

Earlier, Raj Kumar Pradhan and Santosh Baral made a new tenth-wicket partnership record by adding 96 runs to rescue Biratnagar which was 148/9 at one stage. Raj Kumar hit 45 off 42 balls with five fours and a six before being bowled by Chandra Saud while Santosh remained unbeaten on 35 off 30 balls.

Rajendra Bam returned with impressive figures of 4/27, and Chandra took two wickets early to scare the four-time champion. Other contributors for Biratnagar were Ajay Rajbanshi (26), Manjeet (23) and Manoj Katuwal (22). Biratnagar also benefited from 49 extras, including 21 wides by Chandra alone.

At Institute of Engineering Ground, Shakti Gauchan’s allround performance put defending champion Bhairahawa on top of the table with three wins in as many matches.

Antim Thapa and Shakti Gauchan scored half-centuries as Bhairahawa raced to 215 in 46 overs. He then turned his left-arm spinners to return with match figures of 2/5 to bowl out Nepalgunj for 50 and record a 165-run win. Nepalgunj’s Meeraj Ansari was the man who saved his team from further embarrassment. He bowled at disciplined pace to take four wickets to restrict Bhairahawa to a meager total and topscored with 12 - including a six of the last scoring shot - to put his team beyond the earlier lowest total.

For Bhairahawa, Sagar Khadka (26), Akash Gupta (19) and Manoj Vaishya (1 contributed a few runs apart from Shakti and Antim, who got 52 off 68 balls. Nirmal KC and Sandeep Shrestha picked two wickets each for the losers.

In Nepalgunj’s innings, no one except Meeraj, reached double-figure while Faizal Khan also took two wickets for Bhairahawa.

Today’s Matches
Biratnagar vs Kathmandu at TU

Bhairahawa vs Birgunj at Lab