Kathmandu-
Nepal takes United States of America tomorrow at the kinrara Oval Ground, Malaysia in the 4th match of the ICC World Cricket league Division 3 tournament. The match starts at 8:00 AM NST.
Nepal:
Nepal are in a good position to progress further after two huge consecutive wins over Singapore( won by 190 runs) and Bermuda (won by 8 wickets with 233 balls remaining). Though Nepal suffered a disappointing loss from the hands of Uganda, they bounced back emphatically. Nepal’s run rate reads +2.414, which means a single win from the remaining two matches is enough for Nepal to progress to Division 3.
Nepal, however, hasn’t given a complete performance. The pre-tournaments favourite hasn’t been able to lift their game up, especially their batting. Though, Vice- Captain Gyanendra Malla scored a ton against Singapore, that wasn’t enough to convince that their batting has improved.
One positive thing from last two matches is that, Nepal is capitalising the power play overs very well. Still Nepal needs to work out for singles and doubles in the middle overs.They also need their top order to play a big inning like Gyanendra played against Singapore. Nepal will face some hostile pace from the USA bowlers tomorrow, Nepal batsman should handle that.
Nepal has been a brilliant bowling side, though. There isn’t a single fault in their bowling. Sompal Kami and Amrit Bhattarai has combined exceptionally well with the new ball, uprooting the opposition wickets. Nepal, in the past, lacked genuine pace bowlers who could take wickets with the new ball. That too has been fulfilled. Basnata Regmi and Shakti Gauchan has led the spin attack so well in the past few years and they are continuing their legendary as well.
United States of America(USA)
The USA, on the other hand, has lost two out of the three matches they have played. Their path to Division 2 looks difficult now on. ICC WCL Division 3 will almost be over for them if they loose to Nepal tomorrow.
The USA aren’t a weak team though. They have batsman like Steven Taylor, Steve Massiah(c) and Srinivasa Santhanam who could single handedly win matches for them. They have a very good pace attack as well. But, inconsistency in the batting, poor shot selection and imperfect team combination and game plans has let them down.
The USA possess a serious threat when it comes to their pace bowling. They have bowlers like Jermaine Lawson, who played 13 test matches for West Indies, and Usman Shuja who can bowl up to 140 kph consistently. These two could be a real danger for Nepali batsman if both of them play tomorrow.
Recent Form In ICC WCL
Nepal LWLWW
USA WLWLL
Players To Watch Out
Steven Taylor
The 20 year old opener is having a lean path in this tournament with scores of 17,0, and 15 in the last three matches. Last time when Nepal played against the USA, he score a scintillating century by the help of which USA win that match. He will be hoping to play another big knock against Nepal tomorrow and gain his form back.
Subash Khakurel
This 21 year old fellow played one of this career best knock of 115 runs against the USA in the ICC WCL Division 4 competition in 2012. He isn’t having a great time either in this competition with scores of 22, 30, and 0 in his last three matches. He will be hoping to gain his form back with a blistering knock tomorrow.
Squads
Nepal – Paras Khadka (captain), Mahaboob Alam, Binod Bhandari, Amrit Bhattarai, Naresh Budhaayer, Shakti Gauchan, Sompal Kami, Bhuban Karki, Subash Khakurel, Gyanendra Malla, Sagar Pun, Basant Regmi, Aarif Sheikh and Sharad Vesawkar.
USA – Steve Massiah (captain), Danial Ahmed, Fahad Babar, Adil Bhatti, Karen Ganesh, Muhammad Ghous, Elmore Hutchinson, Jermaine Lawson, Sushil Nadkarni, Timil Patel, Srinivasa Santhanam, Khwaja Usman Shuja, Steven Taylor and Aditya Thyagarajan.
