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Kathmandu,Friday January 21, 2000 Magh 07th, 2056.
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India, Sri Lanka in semis
Nepal, England bow out of contention
-By a Post Reporter
KATHMANDU, Jan 20- After a second successive
defeat in the Super League, Nepal bowed out of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup here today
being played in Sri Lanka.
They went down to the hosts and one of the
tournament favourites, Sri Lanka, tamely suffering a nine wicket defeat. The only
success that the Nepalese team today had was with the toss and they elected to bat first.
But Nepal failed to get off to a good start
as wickets fell at regular intervals. It was only middle order batsman Virendra Vikram
Shah with 20 and allrounder Dipendra Chaudhary with 20 that saved the team from total
humiliation. Speedster Amir Akhtar also contributed a useful 12 runs. But the side was
eventually out for 89 runs in 34.2 overs.
Sri Lanka reached the target comfortably
getting the required runs in 19.3 overs for the loss of only one wicket. The wicket was
scalped by Amir Akhtar. With this win Sri Lanka have booked a semi-final berth.
Nepal’s last match is scheduled against
England on Jan 22.
Menawhile, India also booked a place
in the semis defeating England by nine wickets.
Chasing England’s impressive looking
182-9 off the allocated 50 overs, India reached the target without any discomfort in the
43rd over for the loss of just one wicket.
It was a scintillating performance by the
Indian openers--Ranveet Ricky and Manish Sharma--who put on a match winning 134 runs
partnership. The openers who were cautious in the beginning slowly started to open out and
soon were playing shots to every corner of the ground. Initially, it was Ricky who opened
his shoulders and hit the English bowlers mercilessly. His stroke filled 69 contained nine
hits to the fence. He was also first to go, bowled by Murtagh.
Then, skipper Mohammad Kaif and Manish took
control with both of them playing some delightful shots. Manish remained unbeaten till the
end with an unbeaten 85 that included seven fours and three huge sixes. Kaif made 25.
Earlier, England’s total was built
around Gary Brett’s patient 56 runs and some late hitting by Harrison and Bridge.
India and Sri Lanka made it to the semis
from the group featuring Nepal, while Pakistan and Australia are likely to make the grade
from the other group.
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