Kathmandu, June 21:

Amrit Bhattarai bowled Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) to a four-wicket win over Region No 1 (Biratnager) in the semi-final of the Shikhar Senior One-day National Cricket Tournament here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today.

Bhattarai, who was well supported by Sagar Khadka (2-14) and Shakti Gauchan (2-8), took 4-13 in seven overs to restrict Biratnager to 92 runs in 33 overs after Bhairahawa skipper Gauchan opted to bowl first.

Bhairahawa chased the total losing six wickets in 36.4 overs. Bhairahawa will play Kathmandu in final on Saturday.

Santosh Baral, the No 10 batsman, top-scored with 21-ball 19 that included two sixes off Lakpa Lama. Allrounder Mehboob Alam, Pawan Das and Sunil Bista made 10 runs each. Also Basanta Regmi and Dipesh Khatri bagged one wicket each for Bhairahawa.

In reply, Bhairahawa were struggling at 18-3 in 13 overs but Gauchan and Sagar Khadka consolidated the innings with a stand of 38 runs for the fourth wicket. Gauchan made 25 off 76 balls including a four while Sagar scored 47-ball 19.

After both Gauchan and Sagar were dismissed in the space of

six runs, Aakash Gupta led the team close to victory. Gupta scored 23 in 25 balls that included two hits to the rope and a six. Gupta was out in the 35.4 overs with only five runs required for the victory. Amit Shrestha (nine) and Manoj Baishya (one) then guided their team home.

Sports gear handed over:

KATHMANDU: Standard Chartered Bank, the co-sponsor of senior national cricket team, handed over sports gear for the eight-member team that is scheduled to leave for Chhenai for training on Sunday. The team included Nepal’s Sri Lankan coach Roy Luke Dias and players Binod Das, Paresh Lohani, Sharad Vesawkar, Shakti Gauchan, Paras Khadka, Mehboob Alam and Dipendra Chaudhary.

The players will undergo the High Performance Course at the MRF Academy from June 25 to July 4 under the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) programme. Seven players and a coach from each of the seven Asian countries — Nepal, Hong Kong, Oman, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE and Afghanistan — will attend the course as a preparation for the World Cricket League. Nepal is scheduled to participate in the eight nation World Cricket League Division 5 Tournament in

Jersey in 2008. — HNS