Police entered the final from pool A after its last match against Baitadi was washed out due to heavy rain at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur on Thurday. Both the teams shared a point each. Baitadi was at 56/4 in 20.4 overs when the downpour began.[break]
After the match ended in a no-result, Police topped pool A with seven points from four matches, a point ahead of Region No 3 Kathmandu.
Meanwhile, APF defeated Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) by six wickets at the Pulchowk Cricket Ground. The match was reduced to 30 overs per innings due to rain and wet outfield.
Batting first, Bhairahawa was all out for 83 runs in 29.3 overs. Man-of-the-match Basanta Regmi took four wickets and Shakti Gauchan claimed two wickets to restrict Bhairahawa to a low score. Lal Bahadur Adhikari topscored with 22 runs off 30 balls while Antim Thapa scored 16 runs from 43 balls. Mehboob Alam, Amrit Bhattarai, Paras Khadka and Prithu Baskota took a wicket each.
APF met the target in 13.1 overs losing four wickets as skipper Paras Khadka scored 27 off 17 balls and Subash Khakurel scored 19 off 22 balls. Sharad Vesawkar (11) and Gyanendra Malla (14) were not out when APF sealed the must-win match.
Had the match ended in a no-result, APF would have been out of the tournament but the win gave it two points. APF topped pool B with seven points, a point ahead of Region No 7 Janakpur.
The final will be played on Saturday at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.
Cricket in ill-time
Nearly a dozen Armed Police Force (APF) personnel were busy mopping a waterlogged Pulchowk Cricket Ground on Thursday morning.
As Nepal APF Club had a must-win game on this ground against Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) in the Pepsi Standard Chartered National One-day Cricket Tournament, APF personnel had taken the initiative to make the ground ready for the match. Had the game ended in a no-result, APF would have been out of the tournament.
The last match of pool B not only started late at 1 pm, it was time and again disturbed by rain. Play was halted for a while after 11.1 overs when APF was chasing a target of 84 runs.
The ground, without a proper drainage system, was again waterlogged but both the captains insisted on continuing the game.
"I agreed to play the match because we also had a chance of qualifying for the final if we won the match," said Bhairahawa captain Antim Thapa.
"It was not a proper playing condition but the tournament format compelled us," said APF skipper Paras Khadka. "When two captains are ready to play, other factors are less important."
As Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has organized the national level tournament in the rainy season and not even set the provision of reserve match day, the tournament is losing its value.
Two matches, one in each group, were washed out by rain in the group stage and most of the matches either kicked off later than the scheduled time or were cut short by reducing overs.
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