Bhairahawa, June 9:

Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) took a huge lead of 222 runs against Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) on the first day of the Shikhar Two-day National Cricket Tournament here at the Siddhartha Stadium on Saturday.

Electing to bat first after skipper Shakti Gauchan won the toss, Bhairahawa amassed 275-8 in their first innings quota of 60 overs. Gauchan led from the front with his 80-run knock that included 14 hits to the fence. Basanta Regmi scored 39 while Dipesh Khatri (28), Amit Shrestha (25) and Bijay Thapa (19 not out) all contributed to the massive total.

Shambhu Khan, Durga Sen and Bharat Dangi took two wickets each while Nirmal KC claimed one for Nepalgunj. In reply, Nepalgunj were reeling at 53-8 at close. Nirmal KC scored 19 runs for Nepalgunj.

For Bhairahawa, Dipesh Khatri, Rishi Kesh and Vijay Thapa took two wickets each. After the first day, Bhairahawa earned 9.5 bonus points while Nepalgunj accumulated five.

In Birgunj, first day of the both the matches — Region No 2 (Birgunj) vs Region No 3 (Kathmandu) and Region No 1 (Biratnagar) vs Region No 6 (Baitadi) — was washed out due to heavy overnight rain.

Rain permitting, the matches will now be decided in single innings on Sunday.