Kathmandu: Dipendra Chaudhary scored a half century to guide Region-III (Kathmandu) to a comprehensive 43-run win over Region-II (Birgunj) in the inaugural Springwood Twenty20 National Cricket Tournament match here at the Tribhuvan University Stadiums today.

Electing to bat first, Kathmandu were struggling at 17-2 after openers Paresh Lohani (five)and Sanjay Shrestha (12) were dismissed in the space of three balls in the fourth over. Dipendra and skipper Paras Khadka rescued their team with explosive knocks putting on a century partnership for the third wicket. Man of the match Dipendra struck five fours and three sixes in his 50-ball 67 while Paras made 46 off 33 balls, hitting three sixes and two fours. Avinash Karn was the pick of the Birgunj bowlers with 2-28 from four overs while Yasin Hawari, Sanjam Regmi and Suraj Timalsina bagged one each.

In reply, Birgunj could only manage 114-7 in their quota of overs. Birgunj top-order batsmen got starts but failed to convert those into big score. Makeshift opener and skipper Binod Das was first to depart in the fourth over after making 12 off 10 balls before Anil Mandal (eight) join his skipper in the pavilion in the fifth over. Hasim Ansari plundered a swift 20 runs from 16 balls and Hari Shankar Shah made 13. N0 5 batsman Shiva Tandukar top scored with 22-ball 30, hitting two sixes and a boundary. Rom Shrestha (2-16), Pramod Basnet (2-22) and Raju Basnyat (2-23) claimed two wickets each while Abhaya Rana took one for Kathmandu.