Nepal dominates to claim fourth victory
Nepal secured its fourth victory in a row at Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 (WCL Div. 5) after defeating Fiji by 193 runs in front of another large crowd of adoring fans, this time at Tribhuvan University Ground.
Singapore also secured victory today - against USA - meaning the results of Friday's fixtures are crucial for Nepal, USA and Singapore in order to decide who will win promotion to WCL Div. 4.
Should USA beat Nepal and Singapore defeat Jersey on Friday, then USA, Singapore and Nepal will all be on equal points and the two promotional spots will be decided by net run-rate.
But the home side is in formidable form. Today, the partnership of Nepal captain Paras Khadka and middle-order batsman Sharad Vesawkar helped the side to its first innings total of 267. Khadka's 75 runs were outshone this time by Vesawkar who made a superb 105 not out off 134 balls.
Fiji's bowlers had started well with 17-year-old Tukana Tavo dismissing three of the top order but Khadka and Vesawkar had other plans for the Pacific Islanders. Vesawkar's innings saw the crowd go wild for his eight fours and two sixes and the 21-year-old was thrilled to score his first senior century.
"It feels fantastic to win man of the match and especially for scoring my first century at senior level for Nepal," he said.
"The crowd support really helped me on the way, but I can't rest on this we have to now find the same intensity we had at the start of this week for when we take on USA on Friday.
"The match against USA is really important at the University Ground but I feel we've got a bit of a home advantage as we play regularly at the ground and we'll have plenty of local support again."
It was all over for Fiji in the 27th over when the side was dismissed for 74 - Nepal's Basanta Regmi again the pick of the bowlers with 4-11.
Fiji captain Joe Rika said: "It's hugely disappointing for us right now. We'd started so well and then we let things slip away from us again. It's a time to reflect about what's gone on and how we're going to fix it."
Singapore's Jackie Manoj-Kumar secured the side's fourth victory of the tournament after taking 4-23 and making sure Friday's matches are integral to who will win promotion to Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 4.
Marvan Atapattu's men amassed 267 runs in the first innings at the Engineering Ground with Narender Reddy making a half-century while Pramodh Raja fell just five runs short of the 50-mark.
USA captain Steve Massiah attempted to lead the way for his side with a hard-fought half-century but the team failed to fire and Manoj-Kumar's bowling was too strong.
Coach Clayton Lambert said of the defeat: "We have been playing so well but everybody can have an off day. We still think we can beat Nepal and I am hoping our guys can lift themselves and put in the kind of performance that I am looking for.
"Playing Nepal is a challenge that we are looking forward to. We came here to get some revenge on Nepal and Jersey, but it seems that against Nepal on Friday we will have to be cooking on all cylinders."
Man of the match Manoj-Kumar said: "We now have a good chance of gaining promotion after today's win and we are looking forward to Friday. I wasn't surprised that we defeated the USA as we batted well and posted a good target and then bowled well and caught all our chances."
Jersey succumbed to a 27-run defeat, to hand Bahrain its first victory of the tournament. The WCL Div. 6 runner-up had a star performer at the Army Ground in the form of Qamar Saeed.
Saeed's 50 not out was accompanied with impressive bowling figures of 6-33 and earning the 38-year-old the man-of-the-match award.
A mention must go to the valiant efforts of Jersey captain Ryan Driver who made 80 runs in the side's attempt to chase down the target of 264 set by Yaser Sadeeq's men, but his efforts were in vain.
Driver said: "Today our fielding let us down and our bowling just wasn't in the right areas and they made better use of the PowerPlay. We restricted them to 260 and I really felt it was a target we should have got.
"We're hoping to put the things we've learned in the last four games into practice against Singapore as there is no way I want us to go home only winning one game out here."
Friday's final round-robin matches see Nepal face USA at Tribhuvan University, Jersey take on Singapore at Engineering Ground and Bahrain play Fiji at the Army Ground.
