KATHMANDU: Jhapa, Dang and Makawanpur entered the semi-finals of the Inter-school (District) Twenty20 National Cricket Tournament here Friday.

At the Laboratory School grounds, Jhapa outplayed Palpa by 55 runs. Batting first, Jhapa were all out for 108 runs in 20 overs before restricting Palpa for 53 in 15.1 overs. Hari Chaulagain top scored for Jhapa with 22 off 25 balls including two fours and a six. Suman Subba (18) and Suman Lamshal (16) were the other two batsmen who scored in double figures.

Bimal Nepal took 4-12 and Ravi Thapa claimed 2-15 for Palpa. In reply, except for Saroj Rawal (12), other Palpa batsmen failed to reach the double figure mark. Man of the match Buddhi Bahadur Thami took four wickets conceding four runs in three overs for Jhapa. Neema Lama claimed 3-18, while Sanjeev Mainali and Niraj Neupane pocketed one wicket each.

At TU Stadium, Dang defeated Kanchanpur by seven wickets to reach the last four. Batting first, Kanchanpur were bowled out for 57 runs in 13.5 overs and Dang reached 58-3 in 11.4 overs, riding on wicketkeeper Ramesh Thapa’s 33. Thapa hit four fours and two sixes in his 27-ball innings.

For Kanchanpur, only Dipendra Chand scored in double figures. Chand scored 15 off 16 balls hitting two fours and a six. Kharka GM took 3-4 in four overs for Dang and was ably supported by Bhupendra

Rokka, who took two wickets conceding just one run in five balls, and Bijaya Rokka (2-13).

In the last quarter-final match, Makawanpur registered a thrilling three-run win over Morang at the TU Stadium. Makawanpur were bowled out for 110 runs in 17.3 overs before bowling out Morang for 107 runs in 15.4 overs.

Sanjay Maharjan top scored for Makawanpur with 37 off just 18 balls that included three fours and as many sixes. Opener Robin Ghising hit three fours and a six in his 27-ball 28 and Sandesh Dhakal scored 18 off 31 balls including three fours.

Pashupati Sah took 4-10 off 3.3 overs for Morang, while Sandeep Koirala claimed 2-21. Sohil Khan and Pramesh Pokhrel grabbed one wicket each.

In reply, Morang fell four runs short of the victory target, despite 26-ball 40 from Subash Tamang, who hit seven fours and a six in his knock. Rajat Das (15) was the only other batsman to score in double figure mark. Their total, however, was boasted by 20 sundries.

Man of the match Robin Gurung completed a five wicket haul taking 5-21 in 3.4 overs, while Naresh Giri and Sanjay Maharjan claimed one wicket each for Makawanpur.

In the first quarter-final match at the Laboratory School grounds, Bara defeated Rupandehi by 27 runs. But the result has been held after the losing side filed protest against Bara. “As Rupandehi filed a protest against Bara, the outcome of the match will be made public once the investigations into the matter are over,” said the organisers, Cricket Association of Nepal, in a release.

Batting first, Bara were bowled out for 104 runs in 16.1 overs and restricted Rupandehi for 77 runs in 14.2 overs.