Kathmandu, February 21:

Nepal pulled out a thrilling three-run win over Namibia in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup in Penang.

Batting first, Nepal were all out for 164 runs in 49.5 overs before restricting Namibia to 161 in the 49th over. Namibia were heading towards victory until Aakash Gupta ran E Ossthuizen (7) out in the 47.4 overs with Namibia still needing five runs to win in the last 14 balls. The last pair could only add one run before Gyanendra Malla bowled M Engelbrecht to end Nimibia’s march.

Earlier, Mahesh Chhetri anchored the Nepali innings with a patient 62- run innings hitting just three fours in his 134-ball innings. Chhetri got little support from the other end as Nepal lost their wickets in regular intervals. Chhetri was the seventh Nepali wicket to fall in the 48th over. Rom Shrestha scored 27-ball 26 with two hits to the fence and Aakash Gupta chipped in 21 from 26 deliveries that included two fours and a six. Nepal skipper Paras Khadka contributed 12.

Morne Engelbrecht, Keady Strauss and Louis van der Westhuizen took two wickets each. Namibia were struggling at 39-4 in the 25th over but the fifth wicket stand of 84 runs between van der Westhuizen (65) and Ewald Steenkamp (11) brought Namibia into the match. But the Namibians lost their last six wickets for 62 runs. Sean Silver was the next highest contributor with 81-ball 41.

Gyanendra Malla, Paras Khadka and Rahul Vishwokarma took two wickets each while Amrit Bhattarai and Raj Shrestha claimed one each. Both Nepal and Namibia will now play for the Plate Championship from Group ‘C’.