Kathmandu, December 8

Nepal faced a 63-run defeat against the United Arab Emirates in their last match of the ICC World Cricket League Championship at the Sheikh Zayed  Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi today.

Put into bat first, UAE were bowled out for 195 runs in 49.2 overs before Nepal were packed for 132 runs in 42.2 overs. Nepal, who accumulated nine points from 14 matches,  finished seventh in the eight-team competition, while UAE (10) ended the  tournament in sixth position.

Champions Netherlands (22), Scotland  (19), Hong Kong (18) and Papua New Guinea (16) claimed top four spots respectively,  while Kenya (12) came fifth and Namibia (six) finished at the bottom. The  top four finishers earned berths in the ICC Cricket World Cup  Qualifiers to be held in Zimbabwe from March 2-25 next year, while  bottom four were relegated to WCL Division-II. Namibia will host the WCL  Division-II from February 8-15 next year.

In the day’s match, Nepal, who  lost last round’s first game by seven wickets against the hosts on  Wednesday, made a disastrous run chase as opener Dilip Nath was trapped  for leg before the wicket by Imran Haider for a duck in fourth over with  only seven runs on the board.

Another opener Gyanendra  Malla stood firm at one end  but wickets fell at regular interval from the other end. Malla scored 42 off 90 balls. Sharad Vesawkar managed just 13 hitting two fours, while skipper Paras Khadka (10) also failed to  make notable contribution as Nepal were reduced to 49-3.

However,  Malla and Sagar Pun, who contributed 21 off 43 hitting two fours,  added 41 runs for the fourth wicket to keep the hopes alive. But Imran Haider dismissed both the batsmen in the space of three balls in the 31st over to swing the momentum towards the home side.

Aarif Sheikh (14) and Binod Bhandari, who hit one each four and  six in his 30-ball 25, added 30 runs for the sixth wicket but that  was not enough for Nepal as Sompal Kami, Basant Regmi and Sandeep  Lamichhane were all out for ducks.

UAE’s Amjad Javed claimed 3-23, while Mohammad  Naveed, Rohan Mustafa and Imran Haider took two wickets each. Ahmed Raza  also claimed a wicket.

Earlier, skipper Khadka’s decision to field first paid off as Sompal Kami shone with the ball completing his five-wicket haul. He had Ashfaq Ahmed (four) caught by Dilip Nath in  the fourth over with only seven runs on the board. Kami then dismissed  Ghulam Shabber (naught) in the sixth over, Rameez Shahzad (three) in the  12th over and skipper Rohan Mustafa (eight) before skipper Khadka had  Muhammad Usman (five) caught by Nath in the 19th over to reduce the hosts to 39-5.

However, Adnan Mufti and Mohammad Boota revived the innings with a 80-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Boota scored 27 off 73 before being bowled by Sagar  Pun in the 38th over.

Mufti also shared a 21-run partnership with Ahmed Raza (10) for seventh wicket and added another 47 runs for the eighth wicket with Amjad Javed (five). Kami finally bowled Mufti in the 48th over  to complete his five-wicket haul. Mufti scored a quick fire 89-ball 104 runs hitting eight boundaries and three sixes.