Bhaktapur, November 27:

Sameer Nepal took six wickets as Nepal downed Thailand by eight wickets in the Group A match of the ACC Under-15 Elite Cup cricket tournament here at the Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidyalaya (BSAM) grounds today.

Put into bat first, Thailand were bowled out for a paltry 59 runs in 22.3 overs. Nepal overcame the total losing two wickets in 13.2 overs.

Thailand had a disastrous start when Pradeep Airee took two wickets in an over with 10 runs on board and never recovered. Kshitij Jhaveri top-scored with 16 runs, while opener Pranav Parakh (11) was the only other batsman to score in double figures.

Man of the match Sameer finished with 6-16 in four overs and was ably supported by Airee (2-19) and Bhuwan Karki (2-3).

In reply, Nepal lost openers Sagar Pun (one) and Akash Singh Pariyar (12) with 15 runs on board, but skipper Prithu Baskota and Nischal Chaudhary guided Nepal home with an unbroken stand of 47 runs. Baskota hit two consecutive boundaries off the last two balls off Md Hashim Jamal to wrap up the victory. Baskota remained unbeaten on 28 off 38 balls including three fours and a six, while Chaudhary hit a four in his 29-ball 14. Kshitij Jhaveri took both the wickets conceding 24 runs in six overs.

In the other match at the Tribhuvan University Stadium, United Arab Emirates (UAE) registered a comprehensive 187-run win over Kuwait. Invited to take the first strike, the UAE accumulated 259/8 in 40 overs riding on half centuries from opener Mohammed Yusuf and Saurabh Kantgir. In reply, Kuwait managed just 72 runs in 22.3 overs.

Yusuf scored 71-ball 55, while Kantgir made 50 off 42 balls. Shaaz Ahmed (43), skipper Aqib Malik (31), Shoaib Nazir (32) were the other major contributors for the UAE. Sheerjeel Tahir Iqbal and Abdul Samad Mansoor Sheikh, who scored 12 runs each, and opener Apoorv Sanjay Gaur (11) were the only three Kuwait batsmen who reached the double-figure mark. Shoaib Malik of the UAE, who took four wickets conceding just one run in 2.3 overs, was named the man of the match.

UAE disqualified:

KATHMANDU: The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has disqualified the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the ACC Under-15 Elite Cup cricket tournament for failing to meet the ACC requirements while naming the squad. “The UAE have been deemed ineligible for the competition for failing to satisfy team registration requirements,” said ACC in its website. “Their Group B matches will not count as official results and their players will still be classified for the tournament averages,” the ACC added. The UAE failed to meet the minimum requirement of fielding “at least two passport holders of the country” in the playing-eleven. The UAE currently have 10 Indians, three Pakistanis and a Sri Lankan player in their team. — HNS