Kathmandu, August 14

Nepal will focus on putting up a improved batting show against the hosts Netherlands in their fourth round’s second match of the ICC World Cricket League Championship at VRA Ground in Amstelveen on Monday.

In the first match on Saturday, the visitors faced a humiliating seven-wicket loss against the Dutchmen. Nepal were bowled out for their lowest List A score of 94 runs. However, Nepal will be targeting to improve their batting in the second match to cope up with the European condition and give a tough challenge to the opposition. “We will try to improve our batting in tomorrow’s match,” said Nepal head coach Jagat Tamatta.

Nepali batsmen failed to put a challenging total on Saturday with opener Anil Mandal scoring highest 20 runs off 39 balls. Sharad Vesawkar was the second best with painstaking 14 off 71 balls, while tail-ender Sompal Kami (12 off 28) and vice-captain Gyanendra Malla (11 off 12) were the other batsmen to score in double figures.

Other batsmen also disappointed after top order fell cheaply. “We lost the match as our batsmen failed to put up a good show,” said coach Tamatta. “The Netherlands

are doing good and the conditions are also in their favour,” he added.

Michael Rippon and Timm van der Merwe claimed three wickets each to crush Nepal at their home ground. The Netherlands, who are unbeaten in seven matches, are at the top of the table with 12 points, while Nepal are sixth with four points despite playing the same number of matches.

Nepal lost their both matches against Scotland in their first round and also faced defeats against PNG in the second round. However, Nepal collected full four points from two matches against Namibia in the third round. Hong Kong (nine points), PNG (eight), Scotland (seven) and Kenya (six) hold second to fifth positions. Similarly, Namibia and UAE are seventh and eighth with two points each.