East West lift Bir Ganesh Man trophy

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, March 13: The East West Cricket Club (EWCC) lifted this year’s Bir Ganesh Man Cricket Tournament trophy beating the Youth Cricket Club (YCC) of Biratnagar by three wickets in the final, played at the Kirtipur Cricket Ground today.

Former Prime Minister and the leader of the Nepali Congress, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, gave away the championship trophy and twenty-five thousand rupees as the cash prize to the winning team’s captain, Bishal Rajdan.

Nepali Congress Central Working Committee member and son of the late Ganesh Man Singh, Prakash Man Singh handed over the runner-up trophy and Rs. 15, 000 in cash prize to the losing finalists.

Organised by Kathandu District Committee of the Nepal Tarun Dal, today’s final witnessed YCC post 195 runs in 39.1 overs. YCC’s opener Mehaboob Alam, who later won the man of the series award and Yashwant Subedi (19-runs) made 88 runs for the first wicket partnership. Mehaboob scored a quick-fire 62 in 48 balls. He struck seven 4s and one 6 in his 64-minute stay at the crease.

After both openers departed in quick succession when the score was still 88, it was Manish Vardhan who took the charge for the YCC. Along with Manjit Shrestha (19 runs), Manish took the score to 116 for two before Manjit became the only victim for EWCC bowler Kundan Mehara. Later, Anish Aryal, who replaced Manjit and could make just 8 runs did not last long and departed when the score was 141.

Manish was instrumental in giving the YCC total some respectability through his knock of 43, embellished with three fours and two sixes. With his dismissal at 171, no other YCC batsmen could do much with their bats and the whole innings ended in 39.1 overs.

In reply, the EWCC, mostly studded with New Delhi based Indian players, started poorly and lost wickets early. It lost both its openers in the 9th over when the total was 41. Shah scored just 13 and left quickly. Two overs and twelve runs later, another opener and wicket keeper Raj Dev Shukla departed when the team’s score was still 41.

But with the arrival of Shailendra Katait, EWCC began to give troubles to the YCC. The final man-of-the-match Katait hit four 4s and two sixes in his 58 run. He took 37 balls and stayed 48 minutes to take his team’s score from 41 to 117 before falling to YCC’s Paras Lunia in 23rd over. But the strong EWCC middle order did not feel the heat even after Katait’s departure.

EWCC batsmen Kundan Mehara and Anant Bishnoi should be applauded to guide the team towards victory. These two batsmen joined together to post 31 runs in the six-wicket partnership. The EWCC lost its four wickets for 118 but thanks to the Mehara-Bishnoi partnership, the score went up to 160 for six in 30.1. Mehara who remained not out with his 40 runs in 22 balls took the team towards the victory. Bishnoi chipped in with his valuable 20 runs.

The misdirected bowling from the YCC spinners immensely assisted the EWCC. The EWCC scored 36 runs in just six overs to see it through to the winning target of 196 in just 36.4 overs. The winning run for EWCC came through the wide off Roshan Budathoki.

Meanwhile, Deependra Chaudhari of Mahavir Club and Rajeev Shrestha of Parsa Team received the best batsman and best bowler of the tournament awards respectively.

Apart from Bhattarai and Singh, Nepali Congress legislators, Tirtha Ram Dangol, Rabindra Lal Shrestha, Nepal Tarun Dal President Bal Krishna Khand, National Sports Council Member Secretary Binod Shankar Palikhe, CAN General Secretary Binay Raj Pandey also distributed various awards.

ESPN acquires Bangladesh cricket rights

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 13: ESPN STAR Sports has acquired the exclusive worldwide rights to all international cricket events including tests and one day internationals organized by the Bnagladesh Cricket Board till mid 2006. ESPN STAR Sports shall showcase the exclusive live telecast of over 90 days of international cricket from Bangladesh covering at least seven international tours by India, South Africa, West Indies, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia.

A tripartite agreement involving the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), World Tel Inc. and ESPN STAR Sports, was signed by Mr. Moharmmed Ali Asghar, MP, President, BCB, Mrs. Karen Mascarenhas, representing World Tel and Mr. Rik Dove. Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, BCB had earlier arrignedthe worldwide rights of all international cricket events to be played in Bangladesh to World Tel.

Mr. Rik Dovey, Managing Director of ESPN STAR Sports said, ‘’With this agreement, ESPN STAR Sports now has rights to eight out of the ten test playing nations in the world including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Bagladesh, We are prorud to be associated with Bangladesh Cricket Board.’’