Kathmandu- Matthew Elliott produced an exceptional penultimate over, conceding just one run and picking 3 important wickets that won the match for Nepal Red by 1 run in an epic encounter in the Phillip Hughes tribute match at T.U. ground, Kirtipur on Saturday.
Nepal Blue led by Binod Das were set for a win, requiring only six runs from 9 balls with six wickets remaining. Bowling the 30th over, Elliot went on to pick the wicket of well set Mahesh Chhetri who scored 58 runs, Paras Khadka 20 runs and Dipendra Chaudhary for a duck. Aarif Sheikh bowled the final 3 balls successfully giving away just 3 runs to win it for Nepal Red led by Ryan Carter.
Binod Das, playing his last innings had made almost sure that his team will win the match with a blistering innings of 41 runs from just 27 balls that included six fours and a six but Matthew stole the show with his spin. Nepal Blue were 158/4 after 30 over.
Earlier a composed half century from Sharad Vesawkar helped red team post 163/9 in 31.3 overs. He made 52 runs off 53 balls with six fours. Prithu Baskota was another good contributor with 17 not out from just 6 balls. Binod took a wicket while Karan KC and Ram Naresh Giri picked 2 wickets each.Matthew Elliott and Basant Regmi bagged 3 wickets each for Nepal Red.
Binod was honoured with a cash prize of Rs 63,000 from Dish Home. In his emotional farewell speech he thanked his parents, wife, friends and all his well-wishers for supporting him throughout his career. His 17 years career as a player for Nepal Cricket came to an end.
