DANG, DECEMBER 27

Nepal APF Club and Lumbini Province advanced to the semi-finals of the Sagarmatha Cement PM Women’s National Cricket League here today.

APF defeated Province-2 by eight wickets, while Lumbini outplayed Karnali by nine wickets for their second consecutive victories in Group A. With four points each from two matches, APF and Lumbini made it to the last four before playing their last league match. APF had thrashed Karnali by 20 runs and Lumbini had beaten Province-2 by nine wickets in the inaugural day matches yesterday.

Batting first, Province-2 posted 72-8 in their allotted 20 overs before APF raced to 73-2 with 41 balls to spare.

Only openers Sobha Aale and Anuradha Chaudhary scored in double figures for Province-2. Chaudhary top scored with 18 off 34 balls, while Aale contributed 23- ball 13. APF skipper Sita Rana Magar took two wickets, while Rekha Rawal, Karuna Bhandari, Ishwori Bist and Rajmati Airee claimed one wicket each for the departmental side.

In reply, APF openers Jyoti Pandey and skipper Rana Magar put in 51 runs. Pandey struck four boundaries in her 40-ball 30, while playerof-the-match Rana Magar scored 18 off 30 balls hitting a boundary. Sarita Magar (six) and Indu Berma (one) remained unbeaten. Saraswati Kumari and Kabita Gautam took one wicket each for Province-2.

In the day’s first match which was reduced t 13-over-a-side due to adverse weather condition, Karnali scored 34-6 before Lumbini reached 36-1 with 59 balls remaining. None of the Karnali batters were able to score in double figures in the second straight match.

Dikshya Puri top scored with eight runs and she struck two boundaries in her fourball knock.

Anshu Shakya, who remained unbeaten in seven, was the next best contributor for Karnali, who were all out for 31 runs against APF yesterday. Lumbini skipper Nary Thapa took 2-13 from three overs, while Sarita GC and Gita Gosai bagged a wicket each.

In reply, Lumbini opener Gosai fell for four runs before skipper Thapa and Saraswati GM took the team home adding 21 runs for the unbroken second wicket.

Thapa remained unbeaten on nine runs hitting two fours, while GM scored three not out. Anju Gurung claimed a wicket for Karnali.