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| Kathmandu, Monday May 13, 2002 Baishakh 30, 2059. |
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Lakpa
Lama lays Birgunj low
Post Report
KATHMANDU, May 12 Man
of the match Lakpa Lama grabbed four vital wickets to help Region No 1 (Biratnagar) to
their first win in the Birendra Memorial National League Cricket championship as they
defeated Region No 2 (Birgunj) by 78 runs at the Tribhuvan University cricket ground on
Sunday.
The Easterners
earned two vital points with the win. They had to share points with the tournament’s
lowly Region No 5 when the match could not be played due to heavy rain last Thursday.
Birgunj are with
four points and have a match in hand against Region No 4, which will take place on Monday.
A solid batting
display by all-rounder Mehaboob Alam, who scored the tournament highest - 53 runs -
enabled the Easterners to set 182 runs target in 48.4 overs before being all out. No
Birgunj batsmen could play Biratnagar spinners and were eventually bundled out for 104
runs in 39.4 overs in reply.
Alam and youngster
Yashwant Subedi gave a dream start to Biratnagar when they added 79 runs for the first
wicket partnership in first 15 overs. Alam timed six perfectly executed boundaries in his
75-ball onslaught. Subedi also slammed 28 off 35 deliveries including three fours.
Sanjam Regmi was the
first bowler to come up with reward when Prakash Sharma’s brilliant show behind the
stumps sent Subedi to the pavilion. In his 5th over, Regmi trapped danger looking skipper
Dipendra Chaudhary (10).
The introduction of
veteran all-rounder Jai Prakash Saraf inflicted more pains to the Easterners as Saraf
claimed four middle-order wickets in his 10-over spell giving away just 27 runs. The 25
year-old right-arm off-spinner, who has got nine wickets in three matches, clinched the
wickets of Alam, Manjit Shrestha, Paras Luniya and Unil Shrestha to reduce Biratnagar in
163-8 in 45 overs.
Batting at number
eight, Sarwajit Pandey scored unbeaten 23 runs as Lama and Manoj Katuwal supported him to
pose a healthy 182-run target at the slow pitch of Tribhuvan University ground. Pace
bowlers Binod Das and Rajiv Shrestha also picked up a wicket each.
"We can defend
more than 170-run plus target in this spin-bowler friendly wicket," conceded
Biratnagar captain Chaudhary. "Our boys lost concentration at the middle but anyhow
we recovered well to bounce back in the match."
His counterpart
Musaraf Izhar also echoed Chaudhary saying, "below 200 is attainable for our team but
not at this wicket, which has deteriorated since six matches are being held here without
interruption."
Birgunj run-chase
never looked comfortable as their wickets failed at regular intervals allowing the
opponent’s bowlers to maintain pressure throughout. Only Jitendra Yadav (20), Bikash
Dali (19) and Saraf (18) could show some resistance as rest of the batsmen failed to stay
at the crease.
Lama removed vital
men including Das, Regmi, Saraf and Dali to rock Birgunj middle-order. "There is a
good turn on the pitch and its very slow too, which means if you commit a slight mistake
you have to pay the price," reported the 18-year old left arm orthodox bowler.
Apart from Lama,
right-arm leg-spinner Raj Kumar Pradhan also bagged two wickets while Luniya, Unil,
Manjeet and Alam claimed a wicket apiece.
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