Bhairahawa defeated Region No 5 Nepalgunj by 37 runs at the BSAM Ground, Bhaktapur and Kathmandu beat Region No 1 Biratnagar by four wickets at the Pulchowk Cricket Ground. [break]
The result left Bhairahawa second on the points table behind already qualified Region No 2 Birgunj with six points from four games while Kathmandu have four points from three games. Nepalgunj, currently with two points from three games, can hope for a miracle to qualify for the final while Region No 6 Baitadi, with a win from four matches, and Biratnagar, winless in four matches, are out of the contest.
At Bhaktapur, Bhairahawa rode on the captain and the wicketkeeper´s performance to score a defendable total after winning the toss.
Captain Kiran Pandey scored 46 runs off just 37 balls with five fours and a six while Prakash KC got 52 off 54 balls with six fours and two sixes, but the highlight of the innings was Inamuddin Halwai´s bowling.
Halwai took five wickets in his eight overs and proved instrumental in bowling out Bhairawa for 169 in 33.1 overs. Prabhat Shahi and Saroj Basnet helped the cause with two wickets each.
Apart from Kiran and Prakash, Nischal Pandey (20) and Satish Bhagat (17) contributed for Bhairahawa´s total that proved to be unreachable for Nepalgunj despite captain Washim Halwai´s second half-century in the tournament.
A brilliant opening spell from the seamers that saw Nabin Shrestha and Devendra Somare bowling tightly and taking three wickets, Baitadi had rarely a chance to regain the pace. They were 13/3 in 9 overs with Nabin taking two wickets.
Washim played a lone hand partnering tail-enders for a few runs with Saroj (20), Inamuddin (17) and Greesthi Rokka (11) but the need to accelerate cost them dear. Washim scored 56 off 76 balls with seven fours and was out ninth man at 132. At the same score, Baitadi´s innings ended in 35.3 overs.
Nabin added a wicket more to finish with 3/12 while Bibek Chaudhary (2/26) and Sushan Bari (2/27) also grabbed crucial wickets in the middle. Inamuddin won the man-of the-match award.
In Pulchowk, Biratnagar suffered yet another failure as they were bowled out for 129 runs in 31 overs after choosing to bat first. Early wicket loss, which saw them 30/7 in 13 overs, cost them the match and were in the danger of getting out for the lowest total of the event.
Sumit Chandra Dev´s unbeaten 40 off 47 balls with three fours and two sixes along with Birendra Dahal´s 28 off 54 balls took them to a honorable total. They partnered 66 for the eighth wicket.
The opening bowling pair of Bijaya Rokaya and captain Nupur Pandey were the main architects of Birtanagar´s collapse as they shared eight wickets between them. Bijaya finished with 5/21 and later the man-of the-match trophy while Nupur´s figure was 3/19. Sharad Khadka took the remaining two wickets.
Nupur showed the quality of an all-rounder with the innings´ highest 37 runs when Kathmandu chased the score. Sharad got 30 and despite other batsmen not getting good runs, the foundation they created by making it 113/2 in 27 overs helped them emerge victorious.
The last burst by Hari Chaulagain saw four wickets falling for nine runs -- from 113/2, Kathmandu went down to 122/6 in 12 balls. Hari finished with 3/35 while Lilan Kharel returned 2/26.
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