Sunsari, January 2

Province-1 defeated Province-5 by 68 runs in the opening match of the Manmohan Memorial National One- Day Cricket Tournament here at the Inaruwa grounds today.

In a low scoring Group C match, Province-1 were bowled out for 120 runs in 31.2 overs before packing Province-5 for a paltry 52 runs in 18 overs. Firdosh Ansari top scored for Province-1 with 23 off 49 balls hitting two fours, while Puspa Thapa and Dipesh Kandel contributed 22 each.

Bikram Bhusal completed five-wicket haul taking 5-24 from 8.2 overs for Province-5, while Durgesh Gupta, who removed opener Ankit Subedi, grabbed 2-16. Krishna Karki, Jitendra Sahani and Anil Kharel pocketed one wicket each.

In reply, Province-5 were reduced to 21-3 inside seven overs, while they lost the last seven wickets for a paltry 11 runs. Only two batsmen were able to score in double figures as Dipesh Kandel ran riot returning with the figures of 6-20 from seven overs and the achievement also earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Birat Bhandari top scored with 34- ball 28 that included four boundaries, while Bishal Bikram KC contributed 12. Apart from Kandel’s six wickets, Mukund Yadav and Manoj Tamang took two each for Province-1.