Kathmandu, May 6

Heartland College and Sudur Paschimanchal Academy (SPA) advanced to the final of the Expert College Premier League Cricket Tournament here on Friday.

In the semi-final matches played at the TU Stadium, Heartland edged past Santwana College by four runs, while SPA defeated Capital College and Research Centre by seven wickets. In the first semi-final match, Heartland scored 120-8 in 20 overs after they elected to bat first and restricted Santwana to 116-9 in 20 overs.

Man-of-the-match Bipin Chandra top scored for Heartland with 43 off 37 balls, while Bhuwan Karki scored 17 off 18 balls and Subhendu Pandey contributed 10 off seven balls. Avinash Karn and Avinash Bohara claimed two wickets each for Santwana, while Amar Singh Routela and Prakash Bista grabbed a wicket apiece.

In reply, Santwana made a brilliant start but the remaining batsmen failed to guide the team to victory. Naresh Budhayer top scored with 30 off 19 deliveries, while Prakash Bista made 21 off 15 balls with four fours. Aakash Saud was the pick of the Heartland bowlers taking three wickets, while Bhuwan Karki claimed two. Bipin Chandra and Pradeep Airee also grabbed a wicket apiece.

In another match, CCRC scored 150-8 in 20 overs, while SPA raced to 154-3 in 19 overs. SPA’s innings revolved around man-of-the-match Sandeep Sunar’s half century. Sunar scored 63 off just 41 deliveries, Raju Rijal remained unbeaten on 43 off 31 balls. Sunil Dhamala and Bikram Sob claimed a wicket each for CCRC.

Earlier, CCRC were kept under pressure after SPA reduced them to 13-2. Sharad Vesawakar and Gyanendra Malla added 52 runs for the third wicket but that was not enough for the team. Lalit Singh Bhandari was the pick of the SPA bowlers taking three wickets, while Binod Lama took two. The final match is on Saturday.