Cricnepal/Kathmandu: APF Club continued it’s dominance in the domestic tournament while Manjeet Shrestha played an winning inning for Region Number 1 Biratnagar as both registered wins in the fifth day of the Pepsi Standard Chartered National One Day Cricket Tournament.
Making a fine start, APF 276/7 came to restrict Region Number 4 Bhairaha for just 93 runs, thus winning by 183 runs. Subash Khakurel and Paresh Lohani shared an opening partnership of 78 runs before Lohani was bowled for 38 runs. Khakurel later hit 56 off 63 with seven fours and also shared a 31 runs partnership with Gyanendra Malla. Malla made an important partnership with Basanta Regmi for 5th wicket as they put 88 runs partnership. Malla was later caught and bowled for 58 runs. Regmi scored 32 while Sunam Gautam and Rom Shrestha added 38 and 22 runs respectively, both remaining unbeaten. Bibek Chaudhary picked up four wickets, Lal Bahadur Adhikari took two while Sushan Bhari claimed one for Bhairahawa.
In reply, Bhairahawa couldn’t make a dream start chasing down the huge target of 277 runs. Bhairahawa kept on losing wickets at regular interval. Amit Shrestha 23, Fajlur Rahman Khan 19 and Nischal Chaudhary 18 were the only players to make a double digit score. Man of the match Basanta Regmi claimed four wickets for 20 while Amrit Bhattarai, Sunam Gautam and Sanjam Regmi shared two wickets each for APF.
Meanwhile in the another match played at Engineering Ground, Pulchowk, Biratnagar made an interesting one wicket victory over Region Number 6 Baitadi. Chasing the target of 234 runs, Biratnagar’s Manjeet Shrestha put a fighting spirit well supported by other batsman. Shrestha remained unbeaten at 73 runs off 72 balls with four fours and six sixes. Providing a good reply, Biratnagar’s batsman struggled in the middle order. Raj Kumar Pradhan 27 and Shrestha provided great hopes for Biratnagar as the duo shared an partnership of 68 runs for seventh wicket. Pushpa Thapa 40, Somesh Yadav 21, Mehboob Alam 19, Manoj Mandal 14 and Amit Dahal 13 were the other major contributors. For, Baitadi, Prem Tamang claimed three wickets while Yagya Man Kumal, Bhuwan Karki, Santosh Bhatta and Binod Bhandari took one each.
Earlier, Baitadi batting first scored a competitive score of 233 runs losing nine wickets. Binod Bhandari top scored for Baitadi with 49 runs off 55 deliveries with five fours and two sixes while Mahendra Chand scored 45 runs off 90 balls. The duo shared a partnership of 75 runs for third wicket. Naresh Budhayer 32, Bhuwan Karki 18, Chandra Sawad 16 and Prem Tamang 15 were some other contributors. Player of the match Shrestha took three wickets bowling 10 overs and conceding only 38 runs. Amit Dahal, Raj Kumar Pradhan and Mehboob Alam also picked up a wicket each for Biratnagar.
APF lead the group A standings with three wins of three followed by Pokhara who have two wins out of three matches. Janakpur stands first in the pool B followed by Birgunj.
On Sunday, APF will play against Region Number 8 Pokhara at TU Ground while in Engineering Ground, Region Number 7 Janakpur will face Region Number 2 Birgunj.
