Practice matches galore for cricket team

THE KATHMANDU POST REPORT

KATHMANDU, April 27 – Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced a busy preparation schedule for the World Cricket League Division 5 Tournament that begins on May 23 in Jersey.

Announcing the final team for the event, Nepal’s only chance to qualify for the 2011 Cricket World Cup, CAN announced seven practice matches before meeting Germany in the opening match of the 12-nation event.

Nepal plays Bangladesh’s Dhaka Club Limited on May 2 before playing three one-day matches against visiting Pakistan Cricket Board Academy team. The matches against PCB Academy are scheduled on May 8, 9 and 11 in Kathmandu.

On the way to Jersey, Nepal will play English county side Sussex’s Academy Team at Gatwick, London and will stop in Guernsey for two friendly matches – one each against Bahamas and Guernsey.

“More practice matches have been scheduled to hone the ability of the players since WCL Div 5 is an important event for Nepal,” a CAN release signed by spokesperson Tarak Mani Dixit said.

Team announced for WCL Division Five

THE KATHMANDU POST

KATHMANDU, April 15 – Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has announced the 18-member national team on Tuesday for the closed-camp training to prepare for the World Cricket League Division Five.

The training begins on April 18 in Kathmandu. The team will travel to Jersey to compete in the 12-nation event scheduled from May 21 to 31 this year.

The WCL Division Five is Nepal’s only remaining chance to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. The finalists of the event qualify for Divison Four – a six-team event that decides two teams for six-team Division Three. The finalists of the Division Three then qualify for 12-nation World Cup qualifier to be held in 2009.

The teams in the Division Five are Afghanistan, Bahamas, Botswana, Germany, Japan, Jersey, Mozambique, Nepal, Norway, Singapore, United States and Vanuatu.

Binod Das will lead the team while U-19 captain Paras Khadka will be his deputy. Other members of the team are Paresh Lohani, Shakti Gauchan, Mehboob Alam, Sanjam Regmi, Sarad Veswakar, Dipendra Chaudhary, Gyanendra Malla, Mahesh Chhetri, Raj Kumar Pradhan, Amrit Bhattarai, Basant Regmi, Dhirendra Chand, Manjeet Shrestha, Pramod Basnet, Antim Thapa and Yashwant Subedi.

Kathmandu edges valiant Bhairahawa

THE KATHMANDU POST

KATHMANDU, April 6 – Region No 3 Kathmandu lifted the Springwood National League Cricket Tournament title after emerging the winner in an epic battle with defending champion Region No 4 Bhairahawa at the TU Cricket Ground on Sunday.

The final was decided on the last ball with Bhairahawa falling short by just one run. Requiring 169 in 36 overs as a revised target, Bhairahawa ended at 167/9. Kathmandu had earlier scored 199 in 49.3 overs. Some terrific batting from the tail-enders put Bhairahawa back on track after the match looked dead for them at 136/9 with five overs to go. No 10 Mohan Thapa then made 29 runs off 27 balls with a four and a six, but his efforts went in vain as he could not get four off the last two balls. Having gone into the last over with eight required, Mohan and last man Faizal Khan ran a run each in the first four balls bowled by Paras Khadka. The fifth ball was a straight ball that Mohan could only defend back to Paras. On the last ball, the team needed four to win but Mohan could get only two as Kathmandu won the title for the first time in their fourth final.

Before Mohan’s heroics, it was Rahul Biswokarma who scored 36 in 37 balls with two fours and a six to take his team near the required total after the top-order failed to get good runs. Among the seven top-order batsmen, only Shakti Gauchan (24), Antim Thapa (21) and Bijaya Thapa (19) got to double figures while the other four totaled just 16.

It was Pramod Basnet who pegged Bhairahawa back by getting two openers early and in between that Bijaya got run out in a mix up with opener Manoj Vaishya. Left-arm spinner Raju Basnet too got two in the middle while Sarad took two vital wickets – of Shakti and Rahul to douse Bhairahawa hopes of becoming only the second team after Biratnagar to defend the title.

“Rain played the spoilsport,” Bhairahawa captain Shakti said. The match was played in overcast condition and was stopped after three overs of Bhairahawa innings for rainfall and the target was revised.

Earlier, Kathmandu’s decision to bat first proved a good one as its top-order batted well. Captain Paresh Lohani and Dipendra Chaudhary added 43 as openers with Dipendra scoring 35 off 48 balls. Dipendra paid penalty for not wearing spikes and tripped in the slippery wicket to get run out. Sarad got 44 off 81 balls and Gyanendra Malla topscored with 60 off 92 balls. Sarad and Gyanendra added 91 runs for the third wicket and took Kathmandu to a competitive total.

Paras’s late assault of 18 off 17 with two sixes and Pramod’s 10 took Kathmandu to 199 in 49.3 overs. All Kathmandu wickets went to spinners with Basanta Regmi taking three, and Shakti and Rahul claiming two each.

Biratnagar finishes third on pace day

THE KATMANDU POST

KATHMANDU, April 4 – Region No 1 Biratnagar finished third in the Springwood National League Cricket Tournament after defeating Region No 2 Birgunj by two wickets in the pace dominated low scoring match at the TU Cricket Ground on Friday.

Mehboob Alam took five wickets and Manjeet Shrestha grabbed three as the four-time champions bowled out Birgunj for a paltry 68 runs in 20.5 overs. Binod Das ensured Biratnagar toil hard to achieve the victory by claiming six wickets. Birgunj got a disastrous start losing first eight wickets for only 25 runs in nine overs. It all began when Mehboob bowled Anil Mandal in the fourth ball to become the third player to get 50 wickets in the national league after Raju Basnet and Binod.

Nepal clean sweep series

The Himalayan Times, Lalitpur, April 3:

Hosts Nepal completed a clean sweep of the first Indo-Nepal International Youth Twenty20 Cricket Series against visiting Indian side at the Pulchowk Engineering College today.

The Senior Nepali team won by 108 runs and U-19 team beat the visitors by 40 runs. The hosts had won the Under-17 match on Wednesday.

Batting first, the Senior Nepali team scored 184 and packed Indian team for 76 in 16 overs. Skipper Mehboob Alam scored an explosive 53 off 23 balls that included six sixes and two fours. Yaswant Subedi made quickfire 40 from 30 balls. Rahul Kumar BK chipped in 26-ball 36.

In reply, Mahesh Goshwal top-scored with 23-ball 22. Alam took three and Santosh Baral and Basanta Regmi two wickets each for the hosts.

In the U-19 clash, Nepal scored 146-5. Das made 49 while Karki scored 48. Sunam Gautam took four and Ritesh Singh three wickets for Nepal.

On Wednesday, THE KATHMANDU POST news

Prithu leads Nepal to victory

KATHMANDU, April 2 – Nepal Select U-17 XI defeated All India Youth Twenty20 Federation U-17 team by 65 runs in the First Indo-Nepal Youth Twenty 20 Cricket Series at the Pulchowk Engineering College Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

Captain Prithu Baskota scored 36 while Subendu Pandey contributed 24 as Nepal made a respectable total of 143 before being bowled out off the last ball of the innings. Sharan picked up 4/18 in his four overs for the visitors. Man-of-the-match Prithu then took the responsibility with the ball taking 3/18 in his three overs to bundle the Indians out for 68 runs in 14.1 overs. Pradeep Aire, Subendu and Ayush Sharma all chipped in with a wicket each. S

haran was the top contributor with the bat too for the losing side with 11. Nepal Select U-19 XI and Nepal Senior Select XI are in action against the respective teams of the federation on Thursday.

Paresh puts Kathmandu into final

KATHMANDU POST REPORT

KATHMANDU, April 3 – Paresh Lohani played yet another captain’s innings as Region No 3 Kathmandu set up the title clash in the Springwood National League Cricket Tournament with Region No 4 Bhairahawa defeating Region No 5 Nepalgunj by eight wickets at the TU Cricket Ground on Thursday.

Paras Khadka’s 3/14 restricted Nepalgunj to a lowly total of 109 in 46.1 overs before Paresh hit second half-century in a row as the hosts raced to victory in 29.2 overs losing just two wickets. At Lab School Ground, Region No 2 Birgunj beat Region No 6 Baitadi by three wickets.

Abhaya Rana took a wicket off his first ball to put Nepalgunj on the back foot straightaway and it could hardly score early on. When Nepalgunj lost second wicket off the last ball of the 12th over, it was 23/2 with a run-rate of less than two. Anupam Singh (21) and Navin KC (11) provided some defiance against the bowling attack that gave away 22 extras to take the team past three digits. Paras bowled eight overs for his three scalps and Raju Basnet got 2/25. Sharad Vesawkar got the last two wickets in 13 balls to end the innings.

Kathmandu too did not start well losing Dipendra Chaudhary (4) in third over to Navin Shahi but the skipper shouldered the responsibility and carried on from Wednesday’s 79-run knock against Region No 1 Biratnagar to add 99 runs with Sharad Vesawkar and took Kathmandu two runs short of victory. His 87-ball knock with 10 boundaries came to an end while trying to hit Ismail Ansari for a four to finish the game in style. Paras Khadka (2) and Sharad (16 in 72 balls) finished the match.

At Lab Ground, 2006 champion Birgunj, playing for the pride, needed a valiant innings from No 9 Kumar Prasun to pull off a narrow victory against lowly Baitadi. Prasun scored 34 off 36 balls with three fours and three sixes to rescue his team from 88/7 in 18.5 overs chasing Baitadi’s 141.

He partnered Sanjam Regmi (7) for 56 runs to take his team home after a batting failure. Binod Das (21), Sanjay Bomjam (19), Shovakant Pandey, Hasim Ansari and Raj Mohammad (all 10) got starts but could not continue as Rajendra Bam (4/32) and Sher Singh Khatri (3/32) pegged them down. Birgunj also benefited from 33 extras with Chandra Saud once again leading the wayward bowling with 12 wides.

Earlier, three wickets each from Sanjam and Raj had troubled Baitadi. Jagdish Budair and Binod Bhandari then played aggressively and got a few runs for the team. Jagdish hit three fours and four sixes for his 42 in 35 balls before Kumar got him out while Binod hit two sixes and three fours for a 32-ball 35. Dhirendra Chand contributed 21 not out while opener Shakti Bhandari got 15 and Kamal Raj Joshi 10. Binod Das, Sameer Thapa and Kumar each took a wicket.

Today’s Matches: Kathmandu vs Bhairahawa at IOE; Birgunj vs Biratnagar at TU

Bhairahawa in final

THE KATHMANDU POST REPORT

KATHMANDU, April 2 – Captain Shakti Gauchan guided Region No 4 Bhairahawa into the final of the Springwood National League Cricket Tournament with a 55-run victory over Region No 2 Birgunj at the Lab School Ground on Wednesday.

Shakti scored unbeaten 72 as the defending champion posted 198/8 in the 42-over match before Birgunj was bowled out for 143 in 39 overs. In the other match, Region No 3 Kathmandu thrashed four-time champion Region No 1 Biratnagar by 147 runs. Birgunj captain Binod Das gave his team a good start with a wicket in the first ball as Basanta Regmi skied one to Binay Sah at long-on. It was Binod’s 50th wicket in the national league and he became the second player after Raju Basnet to reach the landmark.

He then added two more while Sameer Thapa and Sanjam Regmi also grabbed two each as Bhairahawa went down to 74/7 in 20 overs. But then, Shakti turned the tables on Birgunj partnering 54 with Amrit Bhattarai, who hit 29 off 41 balls with two fours and two sixes.

Sagar Khadka, who had earlier went out of the field after sustaining injury on forehead hit by Binod’s delivery, came back to add unbeaten 68 with his captain to take the team to a good total. Sagar got 16 while Shakti hit eight fours and two sixes in his 89-ball knock.

Birgunj did not start well losing Suraj Timilsina in the second over and never recovered. In 12 overs, it was 53/5 needing heroics of opener Anil Mandal who was looking good. Anil got 50 of 81 balls with six fours but was undone by an arm ball from left-arm spinner Basanta to put Birgunj at 93/6.

Raj Mohammad (25) and Binod Das (18) tried to fight but it got all out for 143. Amrit took three wickets to cap an excellent day while Faizal Khan, Basanta and Rahul BK each took two wickets.

At TU Cricket Ground, Biratnagar proved no match to Kathmandu after captain Paresh Lohani’s fine knock. Paresh scored 79 off 108 balls with 11 fours and Raju Basnet added 41 off 39 balls with three sixes toward the end as Kathmandu posted 235 in 49.5 overs. Gyanendra Malla made a good contribution with 31. For Biratnagar, Mehboob Alam took three wickets and Raj Kumar Pradhan, bowling with injured hand, got two.

In reply, poor running between the wickets and fine bowling from Kathmandu bowled Biratnagar out for 88 runs in 22.1 overs – its fourth lowest total in the event’s history. Manoj Katuwal (18), Sunny Pun (16), Ajay Rajbanshi (15) and Pashupati Mandal (11) were the only batsmen to score in double-digit. Paras Khadka (3/9), Abhaya Rana (2/50) and Pramod Basnet (1/24) finished the match as other bowlers were not required.

Today’s Matches:  Kathmandu vs Nepalgunj at TU; Birgunj vs Baitadi at Lab

Binod’s 50 Wickets

Birgunj captain Binod Das became the second player to complete 50 wickets in the national league when Basanta Regmi of Bhairahawa skied the first ball of the innings straight to a fielder. Raju Basnet of Kathmandu was the first player to achieve the milestone two days ago.

Binod took two more wickets in the innings to take his individual tally to 52 wickets from 24 matches – without failing to take wickets in any of them – and become the leading wicket-taker as Raju did not bowl in Wednesday’s match.

Top Five Bowlers:
Player                                             Matches          Wkts           Avg                    Best

Binod Das (RN2)                              24                    52            11.94                   4/22

Raju Basnet (RN3)                           26                     51            13.22                   5/15

Mehboob Alam (RN1)                       24                     49              9.61                    7/25

Raj Kumar Pradhan (RN1)               22                     47              9.91                    5/42

Shakti Gauchan (RN4)                     22                     40             8.23                    5/19

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 (18) 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

ICC suspends Rahul, Sagar

BY UJJWAL ACHARYA

KATHMANDU, March 31 – International Cricket Council (ICC) has prohibited selection of two Nepali under-19 bowlers in any national team due to their suspect bowling action, a senior cricket official confirmed on Monday.

“ICC mailed us reporting the suspect action of Sagar Khadka and Rahul Biswokarma,” Tanka Paneru, the general secretary of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) informed. The ICC has directed CAN not to select them without ensuring remedial works. The ICC letter reads: “Please ensure that the analysis and any remedial work are carried out on these bowlers prior to any further selection as a bowler to any of your national team.”

The two spinners from Region No 4 Bhairahawa were part of the Nepali team that reached the plate final of the Youth World Cup held in Malaysia in February. As a key player of the team, Rahul took 10 wickets and scored 51 runs in six matches while Sagar took two wickets and scored 47 runs in as many matches.

“I have not been informed about this,” Rahul, considered a promising player, said over telephone. “I don’t think my bowling action is suspicious and if there is any doubt, I can improve on that.”

According to Paneru, CAN will decide on further steps only after the ongoing Springwood National League Cricket Tournament. This also means that both reported players, playing for their regional team in the national league, can continue playing in the event.

Nepal is scheduled to play two important international events this year – the World Cricket League Division 5 in May in Jersey and the ACC Elite Trophy in July. Both can not be considered for the selection of these events. The players reported for suspect action have to go through the action correction and can play again only after scientific analysis of the improved bowling action is found to be okay.

Pramod makes impressive comeback

THE KATHMANDU POST REPORT

KATHMANDU, March 31 – Pacer Pramod Basnet made a strong comeback to help Region No 3 Kathmandu register a thumping victory over minnow Region No 6 Baitadi at the Institute of Engineering Ground in the Springwood National League Cricket Tournament on Monday. Playing in the national league after five years, Pramod took five wickets to bowl out Baitadi for 135 in 36.2 overs – 118 runs less than Kathmandu’s 253/7. Man-of-the-match Pramod last played in 2003 against Biratnagar.

Paresh Lohani won the toss and elected to bat first in the ground that lacked sight-screens. Though he could only manage six runs before falling to Baitadi counterpart Dhirendra Chand, his teammates got scores to take the team to a good total.

Subash Khakurel (17) amended Paresh’s loss with a 48-run partnership with Sharad Vesawkar. Sharad played slowly for 38 runs but ensured the foundation for the score. His 97-ball knock consisted two fours while Dipendra Chaudhary (1) failed again.

Gyanendra Malla, Paras Khadka, Prasanna Shakya and Raju Basnet were on top of the bowlers hitting runs freely. Paras topscored with 43 off 41 balls in a knock that included four boundaries and a six while Gyanendra made run-a-ball 32 with six fours.

Prasanna hit four boundaries for his 27 off 28 balls and Raju ended the innings with Aamir Akhtar (12 not out) remaining unbeaten on 22 scored off 25 balls. It was a tough day for Baitadi bowlers with Sher Singh Khatri leading the pack with 2/40 while Dhirendra too got two wickets. Rabindra Chand and Binod Chhetri each claimed a wicket.

After the break, Pramod made it hard for Baitadi batsmen bowling well consistently. Bowling a 10-over opening spell, he gave away 23 runs for five wickets. His efforts put Baitadi at 55/6 in 18.1 overs – the remaining one wicket going to Raman Shrestha, and the match was already decided.

Sher Singh Khatri then hit brisk 40 off 42 balls with five fours and a six to take his team past three-digit partnering 50 runs with Padam KC. Binod Chhetri (13) stayed delaying the inevitable before Sharad came in to cap a good day with two wickets – of Binod and Padam, who got 26 off 64. Binod Bhandari hit two sixes and a four for 20 off 14 balls early in the innings.

Sanjam sizzles

At TU Ground, Sanjam Regmi scored a half-century and took three wickets as Region No 2 Birgunj defeated Region No 5 Nepalgunj by 58 runs.

Birgunj scored 197/7 in 50 overs with Sanjam scoring unbeaten 56 and Shovakant Pandey getting another half-century of the innings. Nepalgunj opener Mahesh Chhetri continued his good form with 52 but the rest of the batsmen failed and were bowled out for 139 in 45.3 overs.

Apart from Sanjam, who gave away 23 runs in 8.3 overs, Murtaza Hawari also claimed three wickets while Binod Das and Kumar Prasun took a wicket each. Binod is now a wicket shy of becoming only the second bowler in the national league to take 50 wickets behind Raju Basnet.

Mahesh’s 113-ball knock produced four boundaries and was the seventh wicket to fall making it 106/7 in 36 overs. Navin Shahi (19 not out), Nirmal KC (14) and Meraj Ansari (12) hit a few runs toward the end.

Earlier, Birgunj lost the momentum after a good start. Anil Mandal (17) and Shovakant (52) added 65 for first wicket but then Birgunj lost wickets in quick succession to go down to 90/6 – thanks to 4/19 of Nirmal. Sandeep Shrestha returned figures of 10-3-9-1 while Meraj also took a wicket.

In the 37th over, Birgunj was 110/7 with every possibility of bundling out below 150. But Sanjam and Vinay Shah then rescued the team with an unbeaten 87-run partnership – a national record breaking Bhairahawa’s Dipesh Khatri and Antim Thapa’s 59 against Nepalgunj in 2006 – as Birgunj raced to a defendable total.

Today’s match: Region No 1 Biratnagar plays Nepalgunj at TU and Region No 4 Bhairahawa takes on Nepalgunj at IOE Ground.