Kathmandu – Nepali Cricket Team finally tasted their first defeat in New Zealand tour on Tuesday against Canterbury Selection Team by 3 wickets.
After winning the toss, Nepal batted first without the service of their Captain Paras Khadka. Opening the inning, Mahesh Chhetri made a good contribution of 34 runs but his partner Anil Mandal was removed for 9 runs. The duo could only contributed 21 runs in 5.5 overs.
Sagar Pun came at No. 3 joined Chhetri at the crease. They took the score to 89 in 23.5 overs before Pun was dismissed by M Ross for 44 off 75 runs. Before his dismissal, he scored 4 boundaries. Gyanendra Malla and Chhetri managed the score to get pass the 100 runs. As the partnership was looking threatening, G Drake dismissed Chhetri for 34 runs.
At the stage Nepal were 120/3 in 31.1 overs. Sharad Vesawkar could not contribute many runs to the team as he was trapped in front for 5 runs. Similarly, Binod Bhandari and Pradeep Airee both didn’t get the start they wanted and were removed for 8 runs and 3 runs respectively.
Soon Nepal were collapsed to 168/8 in 46.4 over. But, All Rounder Prithu Baskota played a vital inning towards the end to uplift the team’s total go pass 200 runs. He remained unbeaten scoring run a ball 47. Nepal played 50 overs and reached 207 with 21 extras.
For Canterbury, H Shipley grabbed 3 wickets while B.J Rapson and M Jefferys 2 wickets each.
During the chase, Canterbury’s Openers started their innings steadily but lost their first wicket in 15.1 overs for 43 runs. Sagar Pun struck twice to pull back the things. He dismissed H Paterson (15) and G Dawson (5). In 21.3 over, Shakti Gauchan bowled the set Opener J Boyle for 35 runs to put Canterbury under pressure.
In 29.3 over, Sagar Pun strike again to dismiss their fourth batsman – G Drake for 21 runs(25 balls). At the other end, K Ambler was set for a while and he managed to score his half century in the match. He was well supported by J Case (26 runs).
Canterbury were never looked to be in trouble during their batting. At the end, B.J Rapson smashed 17 balls 22 runs with 2 fours and 1 six to end Nepal’s winning streak in their practice Matches.
K Ambler ( 63* off 89 balls ) played a sheet anchor role to help his team win against Nepal by 3 wickets. Sagar Pun took 3 wickets and S.P Gauchan grabbed 2 wicket while Anil Mandal grabbed a wicket in his one over. Jitendra Mukhiya bowled his two overs and was expensive as well.
