BHAKTAPUR: Skipper Paras Khadka struck a fluent half century to steer Nepal to a six-wicket win over Jersey on the opening day of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division-V match here at the Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya grounds.

Batting first, Jersey could only muster174 runs in 45.5 overs before Nepal surpassed the total losing four wickets in 38 overs. Jersey were stuttering at 15-2 by the eighth over before opener Dean Morrison (62) and Sam Haye (38) added 71 runs for the third wicket to consolidate the innings.

Left-arm seamer Mehboob Alam struck in the last ball of the first over, having M Hague (naught) caught by Gyanendra Malla. Right-arm medium pacer Binod Das had Peter Gough (seven) caught brilliantly by Malla to reduce Jersey to 15-2 in the 7.2 overs. When left-arm spinner Basanta Regmi trapped Haye leg before wicket in the 24th over, Jersey were nicely placed at 86-3. Haye struck six fours in his 46-ball innings.

Jersey, however, lost three quick wickets to hand back the momentum to Nepal. Off-spinner Sanjam Regmi had dangerman and skipper Ryan Driver (14) caught by Basanta at covers in the 34th over. In the next over, Robert Minty (four) was caught behind by Mahesh Chhetry off left-arm spinner Rahul Kumar BK to make it 122-5. With just one run added to the total, Ben Stevens was run out, thanks to an accurate throw from Dipendra Chaudhary to Rahul BK.

Morrison added further 32 runs for the eighth wicket with Andy Dewhurst (16) before Shakti Gauchan dismissed the opener in the 43rd over, two overs after Sanjam dismissed Andy. Morrison hit just four fours in his marathon 112-ball innings. Nepal skipper Khadka ran out Sam Dewhurst (one) and Gauchan wrapped up the proceeding when he took a return catch to dismiss last man Alex Noel (naught).

In reply, Nepal were also struggling at 29-2 by the 11th over after openers Dipendra Chaudhary (13) and Alam (seven) were out cheaply. But skipper Khadka (69) put on two big partnerships to steer his team home. Man-of-the-match Khadka added 68 runs for third wicket with Gauchan (32) and another 65 runs for the fourth wicket with Sharad Vesawkar (33 not out). Khadka struck nine fours and two sixes in his fluent 66-ball knock while Vesawkar hit three fours and one six off 44 balls.

“We took advantage of the familiar pitch as we already knew how the pitch would behave,” said Nepal skipper Khadka. “Taking two crucial wickets during the powerplay also helped us restrict them to a lower total,” he added.

Khadka’s counterpart Driver said that losing wickets in the powerplay turned the match around. “The pitch also made the difference. It was not the same as we were used to play ing at home,” said the Jersey skipper adding the ball was taking a lot of turn.

US, Singapore win

LALITPUR: The United States of America (USA) and Singapore registered wins in the Pepsi ICC World Cup Cricket League Division-V on Saturday. The USA thrashed Fiji by 285 runs and Singapore saw off Bahrain by 126 runs. Steve Massiah (74), Rashard Marshall (61) and Lennox Cush (50) scored half centuries as the USA scored a massive 353-8 in 50 overs at the Pulchwok Engineering grounds. Marshall was the most devastating of all, hitting eight fours and four sixes in his fiery 28-ball knock. In reply, Fiji were bundled out for 68 runs in 28.2 overs. J Dabea top scored for Fiji with 13 runs.

At the TU Stadium, Singapore scored 224-8 and dismissed Bahrain for 98 runs in 33.3 overs. Chetan Suryawanshi (54), Buddhika Mendis (39), Munish Arora (33) and Riaz Altaf Hussian (32) were the major contributors for Singapore. Adil Hanif bagged three wickets while Tahir Dar and Zafar Zaheer grabbed two wickets apiece for Bahrain. Hanif top scored for Bahrain with 26 runs. J Manoj Kumar and A Param claimed three wickets each for Singapore.

SCOREBOARD

JERSEY

D Morrison c Chaudhary b Gauchan 62

M Hague c Malla b Alam 0

P Gough c Malla b Das 7

S Haye lbw b B Regmi 38

R Driver c B Regmi b S Regmi 14

R Minty c Chhetri b Rahul 4

B Stevens run out 1

A Dewhurst b S Regmi 16

J Gough not out 7

S Dewhurst run out 1

A Noel c & b Gauchan 0

Extras: 24 (b 6, lb 8, w 9, nb 1)

Total: 174 (45.5 Overs)

FoW: 1-1, 2-15, 3-86, 4-118, 5-122, 6-123,

7-155, 8-172, 9-173

Nepal bowling: Alam 6-2-8-1, Das 6-0-20-1, Khadka 2-0-16-0, S Regmi 10-0-41-2,

B Regmi 8-2-24-1, Gauchan 3.5-0-12-2,

Rahul 7-0-30-1, Vesawkar 2-0-9-0

NEPAL

D Chaudhary c Gough b Driver 13

M Alam b Driver 7

S Gauchan c Gough b Dewhurst 32

P Khadka b Stevens 69

S Vesawkar not out 33

G Malla not out 6

Extras: 16 (lb4, w10, nb2)

Total: 176/4 (38 Overs)

FoW: 1-14, 2-29, 3-97, 4-162

Jersey bowling: Driver 10-2-24-2,

Hague 5-0-19-0, Stevens 8-0-34-1,

PW Gough 5-0-29-0, SSJ Dewhurst 5-0-37-1, Noel 2-0-13-0, ASJ Dewhurst 3-0-16-0

Today’s matches

• Nepal vs Singapore

(Pulchowk)

• Jersey vs Fiji (TU)

• USA vs Bahrain (BSAM)