Canada U19 team escaped a narrow victory over Nepal U19 team with 3 wickets in a low scoring match played at Bready Cricket Club, Bready on Wednesday.
Canada opted to field first after winning the toss. As earlier matches, Opening Batsmen Fajlur Rahman(3) was trapped infront and failed once again to gave the team, a solid start. With the top order collapse, the Canadian team seemed much stronger and managed to restrict Nepal to a modest total of 106 runs. Half of their side were dismissed for 64 when Skipper Baskota was caught by Kumar.
Pradeep Airee, 22 runs, remained the highest scorer for the team before being bowled out on the ball of Kumar. While, Sagar Pun (15),Rahul Vishwakarma(15) and Prithu (10) added few on the board. Beside those players none of the other could make a double digit score. Lower Middle order batsmen, Krishna Karki and Bhuwan Karki went for duck.
For Canada, TRR Manoosingh and TRR Manoosingh grabbed two wickets apiece while NR Kumar and JS Singh shared a wicket each to help them take the game in hand for over the half of the day. 23 extras (b 4, lb 4, w 15) were gifted to Nepal’s total.
During the chase, Nepal made a perfect start getting two early wickets in 5th and 6th over consecutively. Avinash Karn was the one to break it out for Nepal through a run out. But still, KLT Edghill, Man of the match remained not out with an impressive 52 runs that included 3 fours, one being to end off the innings. NR Kumar (16), DR Ramsammy(10) added runs on the account. None of the other managed a double digit score while chasing.
Sagar Pun and Bhuwan Karki claimed two wickets each, Rahul Viswakarma and Krishna Karki added a wicket each to make the game more competitive and this holded the nerves in the players, fans and supporters. Once, Sagar Pun claimed 2 wickets in 2 balls when the score was on 96, match result was on either side. But, a patience inning from KLT Edghill and support from tails held the team to the win in 48.2 overs. Nepal lost the game by 3 wickets.
Man of the Match award, Edghill praised Nepal’s bowlers for making things difficult in the chase: “I had to take my time to steady the innings. All the credit to the Nepal bowlers for keeping it tight. We had to work hard to get those runs. My plan was to just stay there and bat as long as possible without losing concentration. This win does a lot to boost the morale of the side and we can now take it to the next game as well.”
Captain Baskota and Coach Tamata now have a huge responsibility to uplift the team, especially on their Batting. Nepal will take on Namibia on August 5.
