Himalayan News Service

Lalitpur, January 6:

Baluwatar Cricket Club (BCC) defeated Baluwatar Training Centre (BTC)

by four wickets in the quarter-final match at the Shyam Chaitanya Baba Memorial Winter Trophy Cricket Tournament, which has been organised by Cricket Association of Lalitpur under the sponsorship of McDowell’s, here today.

Batting first after winning the toss at St Xavier’s School ground, BTC scored 125 runs losing four wickets in their allotted 30 overs, riding on Sunam Gautam’s unbeaten half century.

Gautam hit five fours in his 85-ball 50, while Ashish Pandey scored 36 off 68 balls including four hits to the fence. Rom Shrestha scored 15 off 17 balls including two boundaries.

For BCC, Shakti Gauchan, who was named the vice-captain of national squad recently, took two wickets conceding 23 runs in six overs, and another national player Paras Khadka claimed one wicket giving away 24 runs in five overs.

In reply, BCC overcame the target losing six wickets in 22.5 overs. Sharad Vesawkar — who was also named in the national squad that will play the ICC World Cup Division 2 Selection Tournament in Malaysia next month — top-scored in the innings with 36 off 39 balls including six hits to the ropes and a six. Opener Nagendra Bhattarai scored 25 off 32 balls including three fours and a six, while Shahid Kazi hit three boundaries in his 24-ball 14.

Rikesh Lama (11 off 13 balls) and Anil Amatya (7 off 8 balls) remained unbeaten after national players Shakti Gauchan (0), Paras Khadka (8) and Basanta Regmi (2) fell cheaply.

For BTC, Binod Thapaliya took three wickets conceding 21 runs in four overs, while Sunam Gautam, Deepak Chhetri and Sandeep Rajbhandari claimed one wicket apiece.

Baluwatar Training Centre’s Sunam Gautam — who scored unbeaten half century, claimed a wicket and also took three catches — was declared the man of the match.

On Friday, Mahavir Cricket Club will take on Chabahil United in the first semi-final match at the same venue.