Nepal hammers Germany

THE KATHMANDU POST

KATHMANDU, May 23 – Basanta Regmi and Mehboob Alam each grabbed three wickets as Nepal began the World Cricket League Division 5 campaign strongly defeating Germany by seven wickets at the Les Quennevais Ground, Jersey on Friday.

They wrecked the German innings bowled it out for 69 in 39.4 overs. Nepal achieved the target in 20.2 overs with Mahesh Chhetri remaining unbeaten on 23. Man-of-the-match Basanta finished with an impressive figure of 5.5-4-4-3 while new-ball bowler Mehboob, who bowled through his 10-over spell, got three wickets for 24 runs.

It was first time after 2001 ICC Trophy that the two country faced each other. Nepal had defeated Germany by two runs in the earlier meeting, but this time it proved strong enough to bowl the European side out for the lowest total of the opening day.

Germany won the toss and elected to bat first. With Mehboob firing and captain Binod Das bowling tight line, the Germans were under pressure immediately. Binod got a wicket in the first over and it looked like a lop-sided match within 10 overs.

“We probably lost the match in the first 10 overs. They bowled very well,” German captain Grammar Sommer said. Asif Khan topscored for Germany with 22 runs.

Once spinners came into action, it was more difficult for the Europeans to get runs. Shakti Gauchan bowled seven overs giving away just six runs for a wicket while Raj Kumar Pradhan gave 11 runs for a wicket in three overs.

Nepal’s batting was not on par with its bowling as Paresh Lohani failed to open account. Sharad Vesawkar (12) and Shakti Gauchan (11) got starts but failed to stay long. But opener Mahesh Chhetri scored 23 off 54 balls to guide Nepal to victory. Gyanendra Malla remained unbeaten on three runs.

“I am happy for my team. It’s important for us to get good start and we got it,” Binod said. “We did well with the bowling but we could have batted better. Anyway, a win is a win and it came so comfortably for us.”

“We are obviously disappointed but we are happy that we picked up three wickets,” Sommer said.

In other matches, USA beat Mozambique by nine wickets after restricting it to 148/7 in 50 overs; Norway beat Vanuatu by 177 runs; Botswana defeated Bahamas by 70 runs and Afghanistan edged Japan by 70 runs.

Nepal faces Mozambique at the Victoria College Ground in its second match on Saturday.

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

Here is the scorecard:

Germany 1st Innings 69/10 All Out (Overs 39.5)
Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Min	Bls	4s	6s
Anees Butt	c PP Lohani	b M Alam	0	2	3	0	0
Farooq Ahmed	lbw	b BK Das	4	26	18	1	0
Abdul Bhatti		b M Alam	7	48	32	0	0
Ayoob Pasha+	lbw	b M Alam	4	9	6	1	0
MA Khan	st MK Chhetri	b S Regmi	22	93	81	1	0
MJ Eggleston	run out		2	30	13	0	0
S Satyamarayana	c G Malla	b SP Gauchan	4	23	19	1	0
GP Sommer*		b S Regmi	6	44	28	0	0
R Vohra	c G Malla	b RK Pradhan	9	21	27	1	0
Rana Iqbal	not out		0	5	2	0	0
E Latif	c PP Lohani	b S Regmi	0	1	1	0	0
extras		(b1 lb6 w3 nb1)	11
TOTAL		10 wickets for	69
FOW: 1-0(Anees Butt) 2-11(Farooq Ahmed) 3-18(Ayoob Pasha) 4-26(Abdul Bhatti) 5-41(MJ Eggleston) 6-49(S Satyamarayana) 7-54(MA Khan) 8-69(R Vohra)           9-69(GP Sommer) 10-69(E Latif)

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd	nb
M Alam	10	1	24	3	3	1
BK Das	7	4	6	1	–	–
P Khadkar	7	3	11	0	–	–
SP Gauchan	7	5	6	1	–	–
S Regmi	5.5	4	4	3	–	–
RK Pradhan	3	0	11	1	–	–

Nepal 1st Innings 70/3 Closed (Overs 20.2)
Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Min	Bls	4s	6s
PP Lohani		b E Latif	0	7	3	0	0
MK Chhetri+	not out		23	78	56	2	0
S Vesawakar	c MJ Eggleston	b E Latif	12	29	27	1	0
SP Gauchan	lbw	b Rana Iqbal	11	27	27	1	0
G Malla	not out		3	14	12	0	0
BK Das*	dnb		–
P Khadkar	dnb		–
M Alam	dnb		–
S Regmi	dnb		–
B Regmi	dnb		–
RK Pradhan	dnb		–
extras		(b0 lb1 w20 nb0)	21
TOTAL		3 wickets for	70
FOW: 1-3(PP Lohani) 2-31(S Vesawakar) 3-62(SP Gauchan)

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd	nb
Rana Iqbal	7.2	0	26	1	7	–
E Latif	7	0	34	2	5	–
MJ Eggleston	1	0	6	0	–	–
Farooq Ahmed	5	3	3	0	–	–