Morang clip Yeti’s wings to clinch Lions Cup

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NARAYANGARH, Dec 23:Morang rode on the brilliance of Manjit Shrestha to put off the challenge of defending champions Yeti Airlines by four wickets to lift Lions Cup title in the final played on Monday.

Shrestha, who was later adjudged man of the match, scalped four top-order batsmen to restrict Yeti innings to 153 runs off 34.4 overs after Yeti elected to bat first. Shrestha dismissed openers, Paresh Lohani and Munik Shrestha, Kimon Ojha and Kiran Agrawal in his spell of eight overs giving away just 27 runs. Raj Kumar Pradhan polished off the Yeti’s tail claiming the last four batsmen in his spell of 5.4 overs that yielded 28 runs. Ayush Shrestha and all-rounder Mehboob Alam claimed one wicket each.

The stars of Yeti team disappointed as they failed to put up any sizeable contribution with the bat. Lohani (19), Ojha (16), Dipendra Chaudhary (11), Agrawal (11), and Manoj Ktuwal (11) all made starts but failed to carry on throwing away the initiative. Only Raju Khadka, playing with his customary flair, defied the Morang attack belting two fours and three sixers in his innings of 39 off just 24 balls.

Chasing the moderate target of 154 runs in 40 overs, Morang completed the victory in 36.5 overs for the loss of six wickets. Alam led the way smashing 43 runs off just 34 runs at the top of the order. He hit seven fours and a six in his fiery knock. Paras Luniya made patient 29 runs to see Morang through to victory. Yaswant Subedi (14), Anis Aryal (17), Yunil Shrestha (16) and Manjit Shrestha (13) also contributed with the bat.

Raju Basnet and Kalam Ali accounted for two batsmen each while Bardan Chalise clinched a wicket for Yeti.

Morang’s Paras Luniya and Ayush Shrestha were declared man of the series and best bowler while Yeti duo of Dipendra Chaudhary and Manoj Katuwal walked away with the award of the best batsmen and the best fielder respectively.

Morang and Yeti received five thousands and two thousands along with the shields and certificates from Ratna Kaji Bajrachrya, Chief District Officer of Chitwan.

Kalaiya crush Parsauni

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BARA, Dec 23:A power-packed ton from Suraj Timilsina guided Kalaiya Cricket Club to a convincing 61-run win over Parsauni Cricket Club on Monday in the ongoing fourth Manmohan Memorial Knock-out Cricket tournament.

Timilsina led the Kalaiya charge, hitting 102 off just 80 balls to help Kailaiya amass 238 for six in the allotted 30 overs after they won the toss and elected to bat first.

Kailaiya batsmen held complete domination over the Parsauni bowlers as they gathered runs almost at will. Sameer Thapa cracked 60 runs from just 54 deliveries while Subodh Shrestha made whirlwind 21 runs from 8 balls.

Sachin Shah was the lone Parsauni bowler to trouble the opposition batsmen. He returned with a figure of 2-26 from his quota of six overs.

In reply, Parsauni, who were required to make 7.93 runs an over, crashed out for 77 runs in 26 overs.

Shah justified his all-round skills playing a cameo innings to make 69 runs off 35 balls and Ameet Raj and Anil Kumar chipped in with 28 and 13 runs respectively. But that could hardly pose any threat against the tantalising Kalaiya attack.

Sameer Thapa, Suraj Timilsena and Bikas Pudasaini all bagged two wickets apiece to wreck the Parsauni innings. Timilsena was declared man of the match for his all-round exhibition. Gaur Cricket Club will meet United Cricket Club of Birgunj on Tuesday.

7 Nepali colts find place in Asian U-15 team

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KATHMANDU, Dec 23: Nepali team captain Raj Shrestha has been selected as skipper of the Asia U-15 team from among the non-Test playing countries that participated in the Asia Cup U-15 cricket tournament. The 14-team tournament was held in UAE from December 7-22.

Apart from Shrestha, a 20-member squad picked up by ACC, the sport’s ruling body in Asia, includes six other Nepali cricketers underscoring Nepal’s prowess among the emerging nations in cricket, Gulf News, a UAE-based newspaper reported on Friday.

The team will tour Sri Lanka in February next year and play three one-day and three two-day matches.

The newspaper, attributing ACC development manager Zakir Hussain Syed, also reported that Sri Lankan coach to Nepal Roy Dias had been tipped as the most likely candidate to manage the Asian team.

Meanwhile, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) felicitated the Nepali U-15 team for their outstanding performance in the U-15 Asia Cup Cricket tournament.

The Nepali team, which reached the tournament’s semi-finals, returned home from the desert Emirate on Sunday.

Nepal U-15, putting in a dazzling show, won six out of seven matches in preliminary and super league to propel themselves to the semi-finals. They lost the match to Pakistan, the eventual champions, by 27 runs.

Six players in the Nepali squad: Sarad Veswakar, Paras Khadka, Sunil Kumar Jain, Deepak Shrestha, Pawan Das and Irfan Siddiqui, named man of the match for forging Nepal’s win during the tournament, were distributed with a set of cricket equipment on the occasion.

Veswakar, who cracked a century in Nepal’s eight-wicket win over Qatar, was separately honoured for his gallant effort.

The Asia U-15 team: Raj Shrestha (c), Pawan Das, Paras Khadka, Irfan Siddiqui, Deepak Shreshta and Sharad Vesawakar (Nepal); Ramveer Rai, Qasim Zubair, Rameez Shehzad and Sufiyan Javed (UAE); Rizwan Nasir and Jackie Kumar (Singapore); Pratheesh Rajpal (Kuwait), Pranab Mehta (Oman) and James Atkinson (Hong Kong).

Stand-byes: Ravi Thapa (Nepal), Robert Beacon and John Beacon (Hong Kong), Tham Shu Chua (Singapore) and Murlidharan (Malaysia).

Universal trounce Buddha Sports

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BHAIRAHAWA, Dec 23:Basudevan EK ran through the Buddha Sports Club’s top order batting to guide Universal College of Medical Science, Bhairahawa to a comfortable six-wicket win in the ongoing Jagadamba Cup National Cricket tournament on Monday.

EK claimed five wickets in his spell of five overs as Buddha Sports Club were bundled out for 136 runs in 26 overs after electing to bat first. Universal used only 22 overs and four wickets to reach the victory target in the match reduced to 30-overs a side instead of 40 due to fog.

Buddha Sports innings was built around the sixth wicket partnership of 59 runs between Somraj Gurung (38) and Birendra Jaiswal (13) after losing the losing the first five wickets for 51 runs. Apart from EK, Santosh Balas and skipper Baibhav Nasha claimed two wickets each for Universal.

Santosh Balas (36) returned to top-score for Universal in their run-chase. Amit Barnawal (30) and Nasha (27) were the other contributors for Universal.

Melbourne Cricket Club, Bhairahawa face Dhanusha-11 on Tuesday.

Raj Shrestha to lead Asia U-15 team

KATHMANDU, Dec 23 (PR)-Nepal U-15 cricket team captain Raj Shrestha will lead the Asia U-15 cricket team on Sri Lanka tour next February, Gulf News reported today. The 20-member team has been built around players from non-Test playing countries that participated in the U-15 Asia Cup in UAE. Apart from Shrestha, who was declared the tournament’s best bowler in UAE, the Asia U-15 squad also includes six other Nepali cricketers including Pawan Das, Paras Khadka and Sharad Vesawakar and Ravi Thapa.