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Kathmandu Sunday November 05, 2000 Kartik 20 2057.
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British Embassy reach semi-finals
Kantipur keeps hopes alive
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Nov 4 - In the second day of
Soaltee Super Sixes cricket tournament the defending champions British Embassy stamped
their superiority over its rivals winning all its three league matches easily and reached
the semi-finals in the process.
In the first match of the day, Pakistan
Embassy defeated Radisson Hotel by 3 wickets. For Radisson P. Upadhyaya scored 26 in his
team's 55 runs for three wickets which Pakistanis crossed in 4.2 overs losing same number
of three wickets. Radisson faced its third defeat in a row while for Pakistan it was a
consolation win after the loss to Surya Tobacco a day earlier.
Nepal Arab Bank defeated Nepal Bangladesh
Bank in the second match of the day. N B Bank scored 62 runs for two wickets with the help
of Praveen Tiwari's 31 not out. NABIL chased the target successfully in 4.2 overs with
five wickets in hand, thanks to Laxman Joshi's solid 34 runs after which he had to retire
as per the rules of the tournament.
The third match of the day saw Pakistan
Embassy's emphatic win over NATA. NATA, batting first, scored 39 runs. Pakistanis chased
the target successfully without any loss in which M. Safdar contributed 23 not out. The
win for the Pakistanis do not hold much importance as Surya Tobacco has already advanced
to semi-finals from their group winning all three matches.
The defending champions British Embassy did
not face any difficulty in their first match as they defeated Bank of Ceylon by 32 runs.
Batting first the winners scored 78 runs with last year's player of the tournament Andrew
Mitchell scoring 34 runs (retired) which included a six over the mid-wicket boundary. In
reply, Bank of Ceylon scored 46 runs for two wickets with the help of 21 extras. For the
Bank, none of the batsmen could reach double figure.
In the much awaited match of Kantipur
Publications, dubbed by the organizers as the most exciting team of last year, the
previous runners-up had to struggle to defeat Indian Embassy. Indian Embassy scored 52
runs losing all their six wickets. In the last over of the Indian innings, Paras Joshi,
captain of Kantipur and best batsman of the previous tourney, scalped three Indian wickets
giving only two runs in his over.
In reply, Kantipur started well with an
opening stand of 51 runs but lost quick wickets and ended up with 52 for two. The match
was tied but Kantipur won due to its fewer wickets lost. For the Kantipur team, Paras
Joshi scored 24 not out and Amar Pradhan 19 runs.
In the sixth match of the day, British
Embassy crushed Everest Insurance team by 45 runs. British Embassy scored 81 runs for one
wicket, the highest so far in the tournament. The major contributors in the score were T.
Troy and extras at 29 runs a piece. In reply Everest Insurance could only manage 36 runs
losing four wickets.
Soaltee defeated Himalayan Bank by six runs
to keep the hopes alive for the hosts. Batting first, Soaltee scored 51 runs for one
wicket in which V. Malhotra scored 26 not out. Himalayan Bank could not cross the target
and scored 45 for one with Pravindra scoring 31 runs.
The British Embassy remained
undefeated, thereby reaching the semi-finals. The British scored 62 for two, their lowest
in the tourney, with Mark McDonald scoring 21 runs. Grindlay's Bank failed to reach the
target and scored only 53 runs giving away three wickets.
In the last match played today, Kantipur
Publications seemed a much organized outfit than the first match. Fielding first, they
bowled with a lot of discipline and let Himalayan Bank score only 42 runs for one wicket.
Chasing a not so difficult target Kantipur scored 44 runs losing two wickets in 4.2 overs.
The scheduled last match between Bank of
Ceylon and Everest Insurance could not be played due to failing light and will be played
early tomorrow morning. |
