Kathmandu, August 19:

Dhirendra Chand claimed four wickets to help Nepal beat Hong Kong by 87 runs in the sixth ACC Trophy at Kilat Club in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. It is Nepal’s first win over the senior national Hong Kong team in any form of cricket. With three in a row wins from Group C, Nepal secured the quarter-final berth.

Nepal defended the moderate target of 212 runs, thanks to the disciplined performance by its Nepali bowlers. Batting first, Nepal scored 211-7 in 50 overs. In reply, Hong Kong were bowled out for 124 in 43.3 overs.

Nepal lost early wicket of Gyanendra Malla (1) but despite the blow, Nepali batsman held on to their nerves and posed a respectable total. Paresh Lohani batted patiently and made 45 runs of 96 balls before Najeeb Amar trapped him leg before.

Shakti Gauchan scored 35 off 52 balls while Sarad Vesawkar contributed 21 runs. Basanta Regmi (29) and Mahesh Chhetri (15) — who had to retire after sustaining injury — also contributed valuable runs to the total. Haider Afzaal took three wickets and Najeeb Amar bagged two for Hong Kong. Hong Kong never recovered the early jolt after Nepali skipper Binod dismissed opener Irfan Ahmed (0).Tim Smart top scored with 34 runs. Haider Afzaal (22) and Nadeem Ahmed (18) brought some respectability to the Hong Hong total at the end of their innings.

Man of the match Dhirendra Chand finished 4-31 in nine overs while bagged three wickets conceding just 16 runs in eight overs. Raj Kumar Pradhan also joined the party with 2-17 in 8.3 overs.

Nepal will play its last league match against Myanmar on Sunday.

SCOREBOARD

NEPAL

P Lohani lbw b Amar 45

G Malla c Amar b Afzaal 1

S Vesawkar c Amar b Afzaal 21

S Gauchan b Butt 35

M Alam b Afzaal 17

P Khadka c French b Amar 8

B Regmi run out 29

M Chhetri retired hurt 15

B Das not out 1

D Chand not out 0

Extras: 39 (nb 5, w 21, b 1, lb 12)

Total: 211/7 (50 overs)

FoW: 1-29, 2-70, 3-131, 4-151, 5-155, 6-164, 7-210

Hong Kong bowling: Afzaal 10-0-37-3, Khalid 6-0-24-0, Butt 10-1-44-1, I Ahmed 10-0-32-0, N Ahmed 3-1-12-0, Amar 9-1-39-2, French 2-0-10-0

HONG KONG

T Smart lbw b Khadka 34

I Ahmed b Das 0

R Sharma c Chhetri b Chand 3

K Butt b Khadka 2

A French b Chand 6

M Gull c Chhetri b Chand 7

C Kruger c Lohani b Khadka 5

N Amar c Malla b Chand 2

H Afzaal c Gauchan b Pradhan 22

N Ahmed not out 18

K Khalid lbw b Pradhan 4

Extras: 19 (nb 2, w 9, b 4, lb 4)

Total: 124 (43.3 overs)

FoW: 1-2, 2-32, 3-43, 4-50, 5-56, 6-68, 7-68, 8-76, 9-105

Nepal bowling: Alam 5-1-15-0, Das 7-0-20-1, Chand 9-2-31-4, Khadka 8-0-16-3, Pradhan 8.3-2-17-2, Gauchan 6-1-16-0