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| Kathmandu, Thursday May 09, 2002 Baishakh 26, 2059. |
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Saraf
sends Region No. 5 packing
Post Report
KATHMANDU, May 8 : The
misery of Region No 5 continued in the Birendra Memorial National League Cricket
Championship when Region No 2 handed them a 54-run defeat - second in as many matches - on
Wednesday at the Tribhuvan University cricket ground.
Chasing 199 runs scored
by Region No 2, Region No 5 could manage only 144 runs in 45.4 overs.
The far-westerners now
must win the Friday’s match against Region no 1 to stay alive in the competition.
Region No 3 had demolished them by nine wickets in the opening match on Tuesday.
Veteran allrounder Jai
Prakash Saraf, who received the man-of-the-match award, rocked Region No 5 innings
claiming four wickets. Not only this, he chipped in with useful 27 runs off 42 deliveries
batting at number six.
"Little bit of
dust at the pitch troubled me to some extent in the beginning but I recovered in my second
over and did what my captain and coach asked me to do," said buoyant 25-year-old
right arm leg spinner who had bagged the man-of-the-series award with 12-wicket haul in
last year’s Jai Trophy concluded at the same venue.
Earlier, Region No 2
won the toss and elected to bat first only to lose opener Kalamuddin Ansari (12) when only
19 runs were added to the board. Sanjaya Womjom (14), Kimon Ojha (24) and skipper Musharaf
Izhar (1) also departed soon leaving the team at 74-4 in the 23rd over.
But Bikash Dali’s
half-century supported by sensible batting from Saraf helped Region No 2 add 66 runs for
the 5th wicket. Ojha reached his half-century guiding the ball towards the long-on area
for one off Arun Thapa and departed two balls later off the same bowler.
In the later part of
the innings Region No 2 lost four wickets adding just 10 runs, thanks to Arvind
Karna’s controlled bowling. He disturbed the stumps of all the three tailenders
including well-set Prakash Sharma who made 26 off 30 balls.
Karna was the pick of
the bowlers while Imtihaz Siddhiqui and Thapa got two wickets each for Region No 5.
Youngster Meraj Ansari – replacement for Nepali national skipper Ganesh Bahadur
Shahi, who stayed at the bench after sustaining injury in his left leg - and Rafique
Ansari claimed a wicket each.
Though Region No 5 lost
Rajiv Shrestha trapped by Rafique for one, allrounder Thapa (42) and Dhan Bahadur Chettri
(7) delayed the inevitable with 56-run second wicket stand. Thapa’s 55-ball knock
included six boundaries -two of them coming off Binod Das’s over. Number five batsman
Dhirendra Bahadur Chand showed promise smashing seven fours for 34 runs knock off 31
balls. But rest of the batsmen capitulated to set an easy win for Region No 2.
Apart from Saraf, Izhar
claimed two while Das, Sanjam Regmi, Rajiv Shrestha and Shyam Thapa walked away with a
wicket each. Region No 3, the winners of the opening match, will take on Wednesday’s
winner Region No 2 on Thursday. |
