By Rajendra Gyawali
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Jan 25: Nepal, aided by brilliant bowling performance from Lakpa Lama, inflicted a 65-run defeat on Papua New Guinea in their final league match of the Under-19 World Cup held at Hagley Oval ground on Friday.
Despite earning five points, including a bonus, from their comprehensive win, Nepal missed out the Super League on run rate as Pakistan and England progressed through with better net run rate. Pakistan defeated England to finish as the Group C leaders with the net run rate of 0.820 ahead of England, who has 0.804. Nepal finished with the net run rate 0.387.
Top two teams from all the four pools qualify for the Super League stage. As a third team of Group ‘C’, Nepal will now play for the Plate Championship.
“Our players have performed well in the tournament,” said Roy Dias, Nepali coach after the win. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t advance to the Super Eight.”
Nepali slow blowers once again held the edge over the opposition batsmen as they restricted Papua New Guinea to 112 runs in 43.5 overs.
Nepali tweakers cast a spin web on the Papua New Guinea middle order after a relatively good opening partnership that put up 49 runs in 12 overs. Lama, bowling economically, ran through the lower middle order batting giving away just 14 runs in his 10-over spell.
Shakti Gauchan, who was only other Nepali bowler to bowl 10 overs, was at his miserly best taking one wicket for 12 runs. Sanjam Regmi took two wickets while Manjit Shrestha and Bardan Chalise took one wicket apiece.
Earlier, Nepal scored 177 runs in 48.3 overs losing all the wickets after captain Binod Das won the toss and elected to bat first. Nepali batting, especially middle order, once again caved in after openers Kanishka Chaugain (21) and Yashwant Subedi (34) brought up 53 runs in 14 overs.
From a healthy 53 for no loss at one stage, a dramatic middle order collapse left Nepal reeling at 117 for five in the 37th over when Shakti Gauchan departed after scoring a patient 25 off 74 balls.
However, Nepali captain Binod Das (31) and Manjit Shrestha (23) joined forces in time to defy the opposition bowlers to steady the team’s innings. As the Nepal failed to wag its tail with the last 5 wickets falling for just 10 runs, those 50 runs that Das and Shrestha shared for the sixth wicket helped Nepal post a respectable total.
Skipper Das, who has successfully marshaled his troop in defending lowly score against Pakistan in the team’s last encounter, was confident of Nepali could defend the total.
“Although our batsmen failed today, we were confident that we could defend 177 runs,” said Das, who hails from Bara district.
Nepal will play its first Plate Championship match against Canada on January 30 in Auckland. Namibia and Scotland are the other two teams in the Plate League 2. Plate League 1 consists of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea and Kenya. Nepal travels to Auckland on Saturday.
A one-run miss!
Nepal, showcasing its fighting spirit, defended a moderate total of 177 runs against Papua New Guinea. Apart from four regular points, the 65-run win also fetched Nepal a bonus point. Unfortunately, Nepal despite tying with Pakistan and England at nine points failed to enter the Super League.
Nepal, who defeated Pakistan, could have been all smiles, though. It would have finished as the winners of the Group C if Pakistan innings was wrapped up even one run less than 121 runs it conceded. That would have added one bonus point, taking Nepal’s tally to 10 points.
“If only we had bowled Pakistan out a run earlier….” Roy Dias’ pain is shared by the Nepali cricket fans.