End of WC dream

THE KATHMANDU POST REPORT

KATHMANDU, May 30 – Nepal put up a dismal batting performance to bow out of the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 tournament with a 37-run semifinal loss at the hands of Afghanistan at the Grainville ground in Jersey on Friday.

After the bowlers bowled brilliantly to restrict Afghanistan to 142 in 49.3 overs, Nepali batsmen batted miserably to end Nepal’s remote chances of qualifying for the 2011 World Cup.

Afghanistan, which had also dumped Nepal out of the inaugural T20 Asia Cup held in Kuwait in October last year, and the other finalist Jersey will now join Hong Kong, Fiji, Tanzania and Italy in the six-nation ICC WCL Division 4 to be held at the Tanzanian capital of Dar Es Salaam from 4 to 11 October to pursue their World Cup dreams.

Allrounder Mehboob Alam topscored with 17 off 37 coming in at No 7 but the damage was already done at the top with opening bowler Dawlat Ahmadzai taking three wickets to reduce Nepal to 55/6. It all started with the second ball dismissal of opener Paresh Lohani (0 off 2) followed by the wicket of No 3 Sharad Vesawkar (3 off 8 ) as Nepal wobbled to 12/2 in 3.5 overs. Opener Mahesh Chhetri (9 off 66) and Shakti Gauchan (9 off 57) then batted painstakingly slow adding just 25 runs in 91 balls to allow the Afghan bowlers to take control of the match.

Gyanendra Malla (11 off 34), skipper Binod Das (12 off 32) and Basanta Regmi (10 off 16) were the only other batsmen apart from Alam to reach double figures as Paras Khadka (1 off 9), Sanjam Regmi (5* off 13) and Raj Kumar Pradhan failed to provide the impetus. Gul Abed, Hamid Hassan and Nabi Eisakhil took two wickets each for the winning side.

Earlier, M Nabi Eisakhil scored 48 runs off 64 balls to guide Afghanistan to the total after Nepali bowlers took stranglehold of the Afghan innings. Left arm spinners Shakti Gauchan and Basanta snared three wickets but the brakes were put on by the new ball pair of skipper Binod Das and Mehbob Alam. Das took 2/22 in eight overs while Alam got 1/13 in eight to reduce Afghanistan to 29/3 after it was 26 for no loss after electing to bat. Shakti then continued to suffocate the Afghans giving away just 12 in eight overs while Basanta helped himself with late wickets to return figures of 3/30 in 8.3 overs as Afghanistan was bowled out in 49.3 overs. Leg spinner Raj Kumar Pradhan took 1/30 in eight overs.

Nepalese reply to Afghani 142

It is lunch there. Afghani has just finished their inning with 142 on board loosing all wicket in 49.3 overs. This is the first time in this tournament that any team has crossed 100 mark, but still I recon it as a low score for 50 overs match but it could be very hard to chase. There is lot of help for the fast bowlers where NEPAL has benefited from it, whick caused them at one stage, getting only 44 for 4 in 24 overs but then they recovered very well with NEPALI spinners.

Here, Mohd. Nabi was the highest scorer with 48 and 2ns was Ahmadzai with 22. and for NEPAL, Shakti Gauchan was the best with 3 for 12 runs in his 8 overs, fallowed by Basant Regmi with 3 for 30 in 8.3 overs, his last 2 wickets came in last over, Binod got 2 for 22 in 8 overs, Mahboob Alam; 8-2-13-1, Rajkumar Pradhan; 8-0-30-1. Paras and Sanjam could not get any.

Our batting is the main problem for the long long time, getting coach himself as star batman for Sri Lanka in his era, could not any thing for it. No one is getting runs consistantly for NEPAL, only one is getting runs per inning. In first match, it was very hard fought target of 69 in 20.2 overs where Mahesh Chetri was the topper with 23 not out. In second match, Gyanendra got the runs, 71, and Paras with 44, no one other significant against Mozambique. Likewise in 3rd, Mahboob got half century, 51, and binod got 32 again no other. In forth match, Mahesh with 65, fallowed by Mahboob for 34 and again no other. And at last match against mighty USA, Gyanendra got 75, which is far good than other innings because it was against USA’s attack.

Our main batsmen are failing regularly, Paresh, sharad except yesterday’s fluent 28, Shakti, Paras has no any significant score. They got start but fail to capitalise that start. Here, I remember that Pakistani Coach Ijaz Ahmad pointed as Nepali batsmen know about hitting or defending only, dont have improvisation, which I dont think our Coach picked it in these long long years with team.

Ok then, our chase is ready to begin, let’s go there, what happen,

The Semifinal: the gateway to Div. 4- NEPAL against Afghanistan

Today, may 30, NEPAL is facing Afghanistan in a semifinal to go through to div. 4 and fight for the trophy as well.

This is the most important match in this tournament for NEPAL, after qualifing for easily to this match where NEPAL has been unbeaten as 4 wins and a draw agianst mighty USA due to weather after putting a very challaging total on board.

In other hand, Afghanistan is strugling in this tournament, even in the group matches, they have not beaten the minnows convincingly and got a defeat against singapore. They are very lucky to get semifinal, actually this is the gift from the organising commettee. I thought Singapore could have been protest against it because this was not fair to them. Singapore had played against group leader Jersey and lost and could not get chance to beat group’s weakest Bahamas. Afghanistan had played against all minnow and luckyly get a point without playing Jersey. Simply, I thought there had to be all those matches which was washed out the privious day not 3 day’s earlier game.

ok then, the match has been begun already, let’s see what happen there:

Semi-final line up is decided

From the official site:

29 May 2008

Four teams reached the semi-finals of the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 (WCL Div. 5) in Jersey on Thursday but the quartet all know one thing: only two of them can go forward to Division 4 and the next stage of qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

The final four from the 12 teams that started the event are hosts Jersey, the USA, Nepal and Afghanistan with the semi-finals pairings matching up Jersey and the USA with Nepal facing off against Afghanistan.

The winners of Friday’s matches will not only progress through to Saturday’s final but will also join Hong Kong, Fiji, Tanzania and Italy in the six-team ICC WCL Div. 4 set for the Tanzanian capital of Dar Es Salaam from 4 to 11 October.

Out of the four matches rescheduled for Thursday, the games between Nepal and the USA and Mozambique and Vanuatu were abandoned due to persistent rain while in the other two matches, Singapore beat Japan by 52 runs while using the Duckworth-Lewis scoring method and Germany defeated Norway by six wickets.

Singapore, needing to beat Japan by a huge margin to leapfrog Afghanistan on net run-rate, was out of contention for a place in the semi-final after it was restricted to 201 all out in 35.4 overs after being put into bat.

A 52-run victory only earned it third place in Group B behind Jersey and Afghanistan.

Nepal topped Group A after its match against the USA was abandoned due to rain at the Farmers CC. Nepal, batting first, was restricted to 182 all out in 50 overs and before the USA could start its target chase, rain came down to force a no-result.

Nepal captain Binod Kumar Das said his team was confident ahead of its semi-final against Afghanistan. 밯e are upbeat as we have been playing good cricket. As a team we are very confident of doing well in the semi-final.

One thing we know about Afghanistan is it is inconsistent. It can be world beaters one day and inconsistent other days, so we hope we can have a good day against it.?

Das added: we are not very aware of these things right now as our focus is on the cricket but we heard yesterday that the country was declared a republic so we are proud of that. The people of Nepal wanted that to happen and if we win this tournament and come back home with the trophy we are going to dedicate the win to the people.?

Afghanistan captain Norooz Khan Mangal hoped his team would learn from its mistakes and put up an improved performance on Friday. We are not short of any confidence. The biggest motivation for us ahead of tomorrow’s match is if we win it, we will take a big step forward in our quest to play in the World Cup.

Every team needs time to adjust to new conditions and after playing four matches here, we know what we need to do tomorrow to swing the match in our favour. If experience is on Nepal’s side, then talent and potential is on our side and tomorrow we just need to pull together a good team effort.?

The USA captain Steve Massiah said his team was looking ahead at Friday’s semi-final against Jersey with great anticipation. It is something to look forward to as if we want to move forward from this tournament into the other league and get to the World Cup then we have look to tomorrow’s game with great anticipation.

It will be a tough test as Jersey was unbeaten in the preliminary rounds. As both the teams are in good form, I am sure we will have a good game of cricket.?

Massiah said he was pleased with the performance of his team so far but warned his side of complacency. It would be unfair to the guys not to be pleased after getting a perfect four from four.

We do not fear any opposition and we just try to concentrate on our strengths and realise if we play to our full potential then we will be a hard team to beat. But we have to guard against complacency.?

Jersey captain Mathew Hague said: It should be a really good game as the USA has been in good form and so have we. There is a lot to play for and to get into the final and go to Tanzania would be something really special so we’ll all look forward to it and it should be great.?

Hague acknowledged home advantage would be useful, but played down the fact that it would be a big advantage. I suppose it helps a little bit but all the teams have played over here for a few games now so they should know the conditions.

Here is the match news video:
http://www5.channelonline.tv/news/templates/?a=14933&z=9

The Nepalese scorecard against The USA

Here is the scorecard of Nepalese inning, from the official site:

Current Match State	Lunch
Toss	Nepal
Umpires	PK Baldwin (Germany), L Fourie (Ireland)
Latest update at	1:19 PM GMT

Nepal

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	SR
PP Lohani	c Nadkarni b Khawaja Shuja	18	56	1	0	32.14
+MK Chhetri	c Shah b Pitter	1	5	0	0	20
S Vesawkar	c Marshall b Baker	28	33	5	0	84.85
SP Gauchan	c Nadkarni b Khawaja Shuja	0	4	0	0	0
G Malla	bowled Cush	75	112	4	2	66.96
P Khadka	c Roopnarine b Baker	0	8	0	0	0
M Alam	bowled Cush	16	31	2	0	51.61
B Regmi	c Roopnarine b Shah	7	17	1	0	41.18
*BK Das	run out (sub Mohamed)	4	20	0	0	20
S Regmi	lbw b Cush	7	15	0	0	46.67
A Bhattarai	not out	1	1	0	0	100
Extras	b 4, lb 5, nb 2, w 14, p 0	25
Total	all out, 50.0 overs	182	(3.64 runs per over)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Wd	NB	Econ		Fall of Wickets
Imran Awan	8	0	35	0	0	0	4.38		1	4	MK Chhetri	(1.4 overs)
Pitter	3	1	16	1	1	0	5.33		2	53	S Vesawkar	(11.3 overs)
Baker	10	3	17	2	0	2	1.7		3	54	SP Gauchan	(12.5 overs)
Khawaja Shuja	10	0	30	2	0	0	3		4	67	PP Lohani	(18.3 overs)
Cush	10	1	28	3	3	0	2.8		5	73	P Khadka	(21.2 overs)
Shah	7	1	29	1	2	0	4.14		6	104	M Alam	(33.2 overs)
Massiah	2	0	18	0	0	0	9		7	119	B Regmi	(37.0 overs)
									8	143	BK Das	(43.5 overs)
									9	181	S Regmi	(49.4 overs)
									10	182	G Malla	(50.0 overs)

 USA

SS Nadkarni, OM Baker, *SJ Massiah, LJ Cush, RA Marshall, A Thyagaram, +G Roopnarine, N Shah, Imran Awan, Khawaja Shuja, SO Pitter.

NEPAL vs USA

This match is actually scheduled to play Today May 28 But overnight and morning’s heavy rain forced to abandone and will play on tomorrow.

NEPAL, now leading the group by better run rate than USA, having same point both at 8 points. and tomorrow’s match will fix the winner of the group so it is very important to win tomorrow game for boosting our confidence and to go to semifinal against another group’s runner up team which could be easy to go through final and promotion to division 4. Still here, if the match could not be played tomorrow as well then NEPAL will be decleared as winner.

update:

Today, 2008-05-29

These sides are both unbeaten, and the winner of this match will top the group and take on Afghanistan in the semi-finals. The loser will meet Jersey.

Nepal enters semifinals

THE KATHMANDU POST REPORT, May 27

Nepal entered the semifinals of the World Cricket League Division 5 tournament beating Vanuatu by 137 runs at the Victoria College Ground on Tuesday to record its fourth straight victory.

Opener Mahesh Chhetri made 65 as Nepal made 220/9 in 46 overs in the rain-curtailed match and Nepal then bowled out Vanuatu for 83 runs. Nepal plays USA at Les Quennevais 1 ground Wednesday to decide the group winner.

Chhetri played a patient innings of 65 from 112 balls while Mehboob Alam made attacking 34 off 19 coming in at No 5 to lay the foundation for a commanding total after Nepal was sent in to bat first. Opener Paresh Lohani made 28 off 34 while No 3 Sharad Vesawkar made 20 off 46.

Basanta Regmi made unbeaten 19 off 22 while Gyanendra Malla (12 off 17) and Paras Khadka (11 0ff 6) also made useful contributions. M Nimoho took 3/53 for Vanuatu.

Chasing a formidable target for victory, Vanuatu never looked to be going for victory and was behind the required rate right from the beginning.

Left arm spinner Basanta Regmi took two wickets for Nepal while Mehboob, Paras, Binod Das, Dhirendra Chand and Sanjam Regmi took one each while one batsman was run out.

Here is the after match interview with our Captain Binod K. Das;
http://www.cricketeurope2.net/AUDIOVIDEO/2008WCL5AUDIO/NEPvVANBKDas.WMA

SCORECARD

Nepal Vs Vanuatu

1-Innings Match Played At Victoria College, 27-May-2008, ICC WCL Division 5

Nepal Win by 137 runs

Toss won by	Vanuatu
Umpires	M Hawthorne (Ireland) & E Ruchtie (Netherlands)
Scorers	Sue Drunkwater & Drew Livingston
Comment	ICC World Cricket League Jersey 2008 – Group A Match reduced to 46 overs a side
Points Awarded	Nepal 2, Vanuatu 0

 

Nepal 1st Innings 220/9 Closed (Overs 46)

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Min	Bls	4s	6s
PP Lohani	c SH Obed	b PK Matuataava	28	40	34	5	0
MK Chhetri+		b M Nimoho	65	139	112	5	1
S Vesawkar	c PK Matuataava	b A Mansale	20	56	46	1	0
SP Gauchan	c E Mansale	b A Mansale	5	18	13	0	0
M Alam	c AJ John	b M Nimoho	34	26	19	1	4
P Khadka	c SH Obed	b PK Matuataava	11	9	6	1	1
G Malla	c A Mansale	b M Nimoho	12	17	12	1	0
B Regmi	not out		19	32	22	2	0
BK Das*	c SH Obed	b K Natapei	1	6	3	0	0
D Chand	c PK Matuataava	b K Natapei	4	10	8	0	0
S Regmi	not out		1	4	2	0	0
extras		(b2 lb4 w13 nb1)	20
TOTAL		9 wickets for	220

 

FOW

1-58(PP Lohani) 2-103(S Vesawkar) 3-122(SP Gauchan) 4-169(MK Chhetri) 5-170(M Alam)

6-186(P Khadka) 7-199(G Malla) 8-207(BK Das) 9-214(D Chand)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd	nb
K Natapei	7	0	31	2	7	1
M Nimoho	9	0	53	3	1	-
PK Matuataava	9	1	29	2	3	-
P Chilia	10	1	30	0	2	-
A Mansale	7	0	36	2	-	-
SH Obed	3	0	29	0	-	-
AJ John	1	0	6	0	-	-

 

Vanuatu 1st Innings 83/10 All Out (Overs 32.1)

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Min	Bls	4s	6s
SJ Garae	c P Khadka	b M Alam	3	26	28	0	0
E Mansale	run out		3	53	26	0	0
A Mansale*	c SP Gauchan	b BK Das	5	19	17	0	0
R Tatwin		b P Khadka	23	24	37	3	1
AJ John		b P Khadka	6	24	17	1	0
T Langa+	c S Vesawkar	b P Khadka	12	39	26	1	0
SH Obed	c MK Chhetri	b D Chand	3	10	7	0	0
PK Matuataava	st MK Chhetri	b B Regmi	6	19	13	1	0
M Nimoho	c BK Das	b B Regmi	6	20	11	0	0
K Natapei	lbw	b S Regmi	1	11	8	0	0
P Chilia	not out		2	4	5	0	0
extras		(b0 lb3 w10 nb0)	13
TOTAL		10 wickets for	83

 

FOW

1-7(SJ Garae) 2-15(A Mansale) 3-16(E Mansale) 4-40(AJ John) 5-55(R Tatwin)

6-65(SH Obed) 7-65(T Langa) 8-76(PK Matuataava) 9-81(M Nimoho) 10-83(K Natapei)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd	nb
M Alam	5	1	5	1	-	-
BK Das	7	3	12	1	4	-
SP Gauchan	4	0	16	0	-	-
D Chand	7	1	13	1	2	-
P Khadka	7	2	26	3	1	-
B Regmi	2	0	8	2	3	-
S Regmi	.1	0	0	1	-	-

Alam juggernaut rolls on

KATHMANDU POST REPORT, May 26

Allrounder Mehboob Alam followed up Sunday’s record-breaking feat with another sterling performance Monday to guide Nepal to an easy 108-run win over Norway in its third match of the World Cricket League Division 5 tournament at the Farmers Field ground in Jersey.

He made a patient fifty to help Nepal to a competitive total of 204 after being sent in to bat and then took two wickets to bowl Norway out for 96 to fashion a comfortable win.

Nepal was struggling at 73/5 losing Paresh Lohani (4), Sharad Vesawkar (5), Mahesh Chhetri (15), Shakti Gauchan (15) and Gyanendra Malla (13). But the normally flamboyant Alam played a relatively restrained innings of 51 off 73 hitting four boundaries and featured in two 40-run partnerships to rescue Nepal.

He first partnered Paras Khadka, who made 23 0ff 32 with fours, for the fourth wicket and then added another 40 runs with skipper Binod Das for the eighth wicket. Das made 32 off 53 and was the last man out in 49.4 overs going for a big hit.

The skipper also stitched two crucial partnerships of 17 runs with Dhirendra Chand (12) and 19 runs with last man Sanjam Regmi (7*) to take Nepal beyond 200 runs.

Zeeshan Ali and Majid Zia Butt took three wickets each for Norway.

In reply, Norway played slowly and never looked in contention. Seamers Paras Khadka and Dhirendra Chand, and spinner Basanta Regmi also took two wickets each to bowl Norway out in 46.4 overs.

Ahmed Bhatti and Abdul Hadi made 15 runs each for Norway. Nepal faces Vanuatu at the Victoria College ground in its fourth league match on Tuesday.

Here is the after match interview with our Captain Binod K. Das;
http://www.cricketeurope2.net/AUDIOVIDEO/2008WCL5AUDIO/NEPvNORBKDas.WMA

NEPAL vs Norway

Today, our Team NEPAL is playing against Norway at Farmers Field Ground.

Norway, who batted first in their first match against Vanuatu and scored 360 for 3 in alloted 50 overs. And their batsman Shahid Ahmad got not out 133 there but in the next match against USA, they collapsed for mere 85 runs in 31.1 overs and gave away 10 wickets victory in 14.5 overs.

Now, Nepal is batting, and again batting at disarray, loosing wickets in regular Intervals. All the batsmen got start but can’t get continued.

Now, Yesterday’s bowling Hero Mahboob Alam and Captain Binod K. Das is batting. it’s 138 for 7 in 35 overs.

Lets see, could our batsmen bat through out all the overs? or bowled out within 150 ?

Update:

Nepal raced to 204 for all out but at least crossed 200 mark. good news is Mahboob Alam got half century and captain Binod K. Das got useful 32 at the end which brought Nepalese score cross to 200 which will be very much defendable target with having firing guns like Mahboob, Binod himself, Basant, Paras, Dhirendra, Sanjam and Shakti. We have the most dengerous bowling attack in the tournament so we could see here as well a low score.

let’s see, what happen there?

at last NEPAL WON THE MATCH BY 108 RUNS

Here is the scorecard:

Photoes of Alam’s Record of 10 wickets haul

Here is the photoes of the amasing record set by Mahboob Alam

all the photoes are courtesy of cricketeurope.com