Kathmandu, March 17:

Skipper Gyanendra Malla took three wickets and scored an unbeaten 48 runs to steer Region No-III (Kathmandu) to a comprehensive six-wicket win over Region No-I (Biratnagar) on the opening day of the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today.

In another match, Lal Bahadur Adhikari shone with both the bat and ball as Region No-IV (Bhairahawa) beat Region No-II (Birgunj) by 29 runs.

Electing to bat first, Biratnagar were dismissed for 142 runs in 43.3 overs with opener Sunny Pun contributing 67-ball 43 and Ravi Roy 23 off 58 balls. Apart from man of the match Malla (3-19), Rupesh Shrivastav (3-32) and Prithu Baskota (3-24) also claimed three wickets each for Kathmandu. Ritesh Singh returned with 1-16.

In reply, Kathmandu surpassed the total for the loss of four wickets in 46 overs. After top order batsmen Indra Kamal Dahal (18), Bijay Gautam (19) and Prithu Baskota (13) failed to convert their good starts into big scores, Malla and big-hitting Rom Shrestha finished off the match with unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 52 runs. Malla struck five fours in his 73-ball innings while Shrestha scored a patient 26 off 55 deliveries. Puspa Thapa was the pick of the Biratnagar bowlers with 2-13 while Iraj Shrestha and Rajan Khadgi took one apeice.

At the Birendra Sainik Awashiya Mahavidhyala grounds in Bhaktapur, Bhairahawa were all out for 184 in 46 overs.

Bhairahawa were reeling at 108-7 by the 28th over despite a swift 38-ball 34 from opener Subhash Pradhan.

The lower order batsmen Lal Bahadur Adhikari (37) and Ruhul Kumar BK (31) rescued their team from further trouble. BK and Adhikari put on 69 runs for the eighth wicket. Bhairahawa lost their last three wickets for just seven runs.

Avinash Karn, Bibek Dali, Kumar Thapa and Dipendra Kumar Raut took twi wickets each for Birgunj.

In reply, Birgunj managed 155 in 47.1 overs with opener Sumit Shrestha contributing 28 off 32 balls that included five hits to the fence. Six of their batsmen got good starts but failed to convert into big total.

Kanchan Thapa (22), Bibek Dali (20), Binay Kumar Shah (19), Ramji Kumar Kanu (14) and skipper Aakash Singh Pariyar (12) all failed to make significant impact. Along with Lal Bahadur Adhikari (3-19), Rahul Kumar BK (3-25) and Sagar Khadka (3-31) also took three wickets apiece for Bhairahawa.

Bhairahawa will take on Region No-VI (Baitadi) at the TU Stadium and Biratnagar will play against Region No-V (Nepalgunj) on Wednesday.