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| Kathmandu, Thursday March 20, 2003 Chaitra 06, 2059. |
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MCC
clinch last ball thriller against President-XI
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March 19 :
The visiting Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) registered a thrilling last ball victory of
one-wicket President-XI consisting Nepali international cricketers in the first friendly
cricket match played at the Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
MCC required three runs
in the last with two wickets in hand but President-XI captain Raju Khadka removed Robin
Jones in the first delivery of his and the match’s last over. New batsman Hugo Norman
squeezed a run at the mid-off area in the very next ball. Khadka, who bowled superbly in
the match, delivered three dot balls before Ben Ingrey connected a straight drive in the
last ball to complete the drama.
The visitors won the
toss and put President-XI to bat first. Some good batting display by the tailenders helped
Nepal to gather formidable 167 runs in 40 overs -five overs short of their allotted 45
overs. In reply, wickets at regular intervals could not prevent MCC’s last ball
victory over the Nepali President-XI side.
"I am proud of my
boys, they came good under pressure today," said President-XI coach Roy Dias, the
former Sri Lankan Test player. "Though it is a friendly match, we should play these
types of matches against superior side frequently to evaluate our status," he added.
"They have been playing lot of good crickets around the world but my boys proved
their potentials against them. I don’t say we lost today’s match," the
coach said.
Not only Dias, the
visiting team captain Paul Atkins also praised the opponent after the match. "We are
very impressed with the way Nepali cricketers played today. Their depth in batting,
opening bowlers, spinners and wicket-keeper were outstanding. We enjoyed the match very
much," he said. He also suggested Nepali cricketers not to get carried away with
their present performance. "You have still a long way to go to achieve your goal and
we are certain the day is not too far," added the skipper.
President-XI were in
deep trouble after they lost four top-order batsmen in nine overs adding just 33 runs.
Opening batsman Paresh Lohani put on 46 runs for the fifth wicket with skipper Khadka who
made 18 runs off 29 balls. In the later part of the innings allrounder Binod Das scored 29
runs and shared valuable 31- runs partnership with wicket-keeper batsman Manoj Katuwal.
Raju Basnet chipped in brisk 21 runs off 19 balls while Katuwal remained unbeaten at 24
facing 58 balls. Lohani belted seven fours in his 52-ball knock of 39 runs.
MCC’s left-arm
quick Tom Harrison was the man behind President-XI batting disaster as he picked up five
wickets in his quota of nine overs. The golden-hair bowler bagged the prized scalp of
Mehaboob Alam, Sandeep Shrestha, Dipendra Chaudhary, Bardan Chalise and Raju Basnet.
Right-arm medium pacer David Owen Brown scalped two wickets while Ben Ingrey, Iqbal
Sikandar and Robin Jones came up with a wicket apiece.
MCC lost two early
wickets in their run-chase -thanks to skipper Khadka and Alam who bagged a wicket apiece
in the early session of the match. Charles Forward and Peter Herworth put the innings
together accumulating 44 runs for the third-wicket stand. Leg spinner Rajkumar Pradhan
sent three MCC middle-order batsmen including the wicket of Forward and Herworth to bring
President-XI back into the match. But former Pakistani international Iqbal Sikandar
brought the match at level smashing 44 runs in just 38 balls. He scored the only sixer of
the match along with four boundaries. Skipper Khadka removed him in his very first
delivery of the second spell but Jones and Ingrey batted carefully to win the match in a
thrilling fashion. Along with Pradhan, captain Khadka clinched three wickets while Bardan
Chalise and Mehaboob Alam notched a wicket apiece for Nepal.
The match was
officiated by former ICC umpire John Hampshire and Nepali umpire Buddhi Pradhan. When
asked about his impression of officiating match at Nepal Hampshire said, "the pitch,
ground, location and weather are ideal for cricket." MCC will take on Colt-XI
consisting U-19 players on Thursday.
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