Kathmandu, October 28:

Kathmandu defeated Nuwakot by 62 runs and Lalitpur beat Bhaktapur by six wickets in the Region No 3 (Kathmandu) U-17 Selection Cricket Tournament here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today.

Opting to bat first, Kathmandu scored 136-5 in their allotted 23 overs before restricting Nuwakot for 74 runs in 22 overs. Man of the match Nupur Pandey top scored with 36 from 56 balls while Subash Shrestha contributed 18. Prajesh Bahadur Singh chipped in with 12 and Shuvankar Bahadur Singh, Ujjwol Thapa and Bijay Gautam made 11 runs each. Keshav Yadav, Manish Gurung and Saurav Bhattarai claimed one wicket each for Nuwakot. It was the second successive victory for Kathmandu in the tournament.

In reply, Pradip Aryal scored the highest 19 and Raju Thapa made 12 before Nuwakot’s innings folded in the 22nd overs. None of the other Nuwakot batsmen could reach double figures. Bijay Gautam was pick of the Kathmandu bowlers with 3-3 from just one over. Prajesh Bahadur Singh claimed two while Nupur Pandey, Uday Shrestha and Ujjwol Thapa bagged one wicket apiece.

In another match, Bhaktapur were all out for 75 in 19.4 overs after electing to take the first strike. Lalitpur overcame the total for the loss of four wickets in 14.4 overs. Rabin Joshi (35) and Rabin Shakya gave a solid start for Bhaktapur putting on 47-run opening stand. Shakya made eight before Rochak Bhatta trapped him leg before wicket in the 10th over. Soon, 47-1 became 58-2 when John Joshi (3) also fell LBW to Saroj Bhattarai. Rabin Joshi was also dismissed without adding a single run on the board. Bhaktapur lost their eight wickets adding just 17 runs. Samiem Akhtar took 4-20 while Nasim Akhtar, Rochak Bhatta and Saroj Bhattarai claimed two wicket each for Lalitpur.

Lalitpur had a poor start when they lost opener Prakash Pariyar in the first ball of their innings. Pawan Shrestha was also send back making it 5-2 but Harsh Kandoi and Nasim Akhtar consolidated their innings with 43-run partnership for the third wicket. Nasim remained unbeaten on 35 while Kandoi made 24. Rajan Buddhacharya and Ronit Prajapati took one wicket each for Bhaktapur. Two wins in as many matches meant Lalitpur will play Kathmandu for the championship on Wednesday.