E-Kantipur

FEB 27 - Despite going down against the US by five wickets Nepal made it to ICC World Cricket League Division 4 on Friday after ending the tournament with a better run rate as compared to Singapore. Hosts Nepal, US and Singapore each had four wins from their five matches. Nepal and the US were promoted to Division 4 on their better run rates. US took the pole position with a net run rate of 1.371. Nepal came second with 1.351 while Singapore was third with 1.347.

Singapore will now battle it out for the third place at Birendra Sainik Ground on Saturday while Nepal will take on the US in the final. Singapore and Bahrain remain in Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 5 while Jersey and Fiji have been relegated from the group.

Electing to bat, Nepal set a target of 163 runs in the allotted 50 overs. The Americans were cruising to victory at 150/5 after 32 overs when the match had to be stopped due to crowd troubles. When it resumed, the match was reduced by four overs with the target revised to 157 runs. US completed the chase in 33.3 overs.

US dominated the match. The batsmen came out playing big shots and taking cheeky singles. SS Nadkarni and SJ Massiah shepherded US into the final. Nadkarni played 59 runs which included three boundaries and four sixes as he remained unbeaten at 57 runs. Massiah added 42 runs. Basanta Regmi took two wickets for Nepal while Shakti Gauchan, Rahul BK and Mehboob Alam shared wicket apiece.

Earlier, Nepal failed to get off to a good start as they struggled to come to terms with the opposing pace bowlers. Dipendra Chaudhary (7 runs), who hasn't had a good tournament, was the first to go when he was trapped by KG Darlington in the fifth over to reduce the host to 14 for the loss of a wicket. In the next over Anil Mandal, who had been brought in to change the opening combination which had not clicked thus far in the tournament, was out in the next over. Darlington bowled Gauchan in the seventh over and the host were tottering at 16-3.

Nepal was dealt another blow when captain Paras Khadka, who has been in wonderful touch, was bowled by OM Baker after adding just 12 runs. Sarad Vesawkar (15runs), the centurion in the match before, followed shortly to leave Nepal struggling at 53-5. Gyanendra Malla then steadied the inning with his half century. Nepal's innings was as good as over when Malla was sent packing by Cush.

Captain Khadka said his team lost to a better opponent. “We played well throughout the match but were outdone by a better team,” said Khadka. US captain Massiah said they won the match playing according to a plan. “We had done our home work well. That was why we played all our fast bowlers as we had noticed that Nepal were not good at facing pace bowling,” said a jubilant Massiah. “I am happy we were able to execute our plan well.”

Supporters who had flocked to the TU ground in thousands to support the home team disrupted the match after they started throwing stones on the field of play. The gentlemen's game turned ugly when the supporters, who were cheering the home team started throwing water bottles and stones on the ground as the match seemed to be doing the way of the US. The audience who had come to see their team promoted to Division 4 were frustrated when US cruised to victory in 32 overs.

Due to the crowd disturbance the match had to be stopped for half an hour and security personal had to be deployed to take the situation under control. Pawan Agrawal, member of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), said there wasn't much either CAN or security forces could do as TU was not a stadium but an open ground. “The ground is open and people can get in from all parts,” Agrawal said. “Had it been a proper stadium we could have searched each and every person but that is not possible here. Moreover there are lots of stones around the ground.”

Captain Paras Khadka thanked the audience for supporting the team but requested the loyal fans not to repeat the shameful incident. “Fans support us when we play well and boo us when we fail to perform and that is okay,” Khadka said, “However, today's incident is totally different. I request our fans to behave in the future.” Last year, the audience had got on to the pitch to celebrate with the players after Nepal won the ACC U-17 Cup.

Posted on: 2010-02-27 07:32

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