Kathmandu, April 18

Skipper Paras Khadka scored a magnificent century and Sharad Vesawkar struck second successive fifty as Nepal defeated Namibia by three wickets in their second match of the ICC World Cricket League Championship here today.

Sent into bat first after Khadka won the toss, Namibia posted a total of 239-9 in 50 overs before the home side reached 240-7 on the penultimate ball of the innings.

Chasing a challenging total, Nepal lost openers Gyanendra Malla (22) and Naresh Budayair (six) with just 37 runs on the board. That brought Khadka in the middle along with Vesawkar, who anchored the innings to guide the team to victory in the first match.

He anchored the innings and scored the winning runs on the second last delivery of the innings, remaining unbeaten on 74. The successful run chase of 240 runs was also the highest for Nepal.

Their previous best was 241 but that match had ended in a tie and Nepal had to share the ACC Trophy Elite title with the UAE in 2012.

Earlier, Namibia made a flying start with openers Stephen Baard (51) and Zane Green (47) putting up 95 runs in 20 overs before they lost five wickets for 19 runs.

They were reeling at 167-7 in 43 overs before the visitors added 72 runs in seven overs to post a challenging total.

Basant Regmi, Shakti Gauchan and Sandeep Lamichhane took two wickets each for Nepal, who will travel to the Netherlands for the fourth-round matches.

With the second win against Namibia, Nepal climbed to fifth position with six points in the eight-team standing.