Kathmandu- Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Home of Cricket, registered five wickets victory CAN XI in their first match of MCC Tour of Nepal played at TU Ground, Kritipur on Saturday.
CAN XI led by Rajesh Pulami won the toss and opted to bat first. Despite a slow start, CAN XI posted 151 for six in 20 overs thanks to blistering half century from Pradeep Airee. On his way to 54 runs from 34 balls, Airee blasted eight fours and two sixes and shared an important 69 runs partnership with Rajesh Pulami for the fourth wicket.
Pulami, meanwhile, made 22 runs from 21 balls. Manjeet Shrestha 25 runs off 20 balls and Sonu Tamang 16 runs off 9 balls remained not out. Alex Senneck, Michael Coles, Alex Macqueen, Neil Dexter and Greg Holmes picked one wicket each for MCC.
In reply, MCC chased the target in the second last ball of the innings. Opener Greg Holmes and George Hdair led MCC’s chase with a partnership of 92 runs for the first wicket. Greg Holmes made 57 runs from 38 balls that included nine fours while George Hdair scord 45 runs from 41 balls.
What was a strange decision from Skipper Pulami- he handed the ball to Sumit Maharjan (who had not bowled a single over till then) to bowl the last over, with MCC requiring 11 runs to win. MCC successfully hit him for the required runs to win the match.
MCC plays Pokhara XI on Monday.
