Province 2, 7 make it to semi-finals

Kathmandu, April 30

Province 2 and Province 7 advanced to the semi-finals of the Manamohan Memorial Inter-Province U-16 National Cricket Tournament at the TU Stadium today.

Province 2 defeated Province 7 by one wicket, while Province 5 thrashed Province 4 by nine wickets in Group A matches. After the day's result, Province 7 and Province 2 were tied on four points with Province 5 and they made it to the last four on better run rate.

In the day's first match, Province 7 scored 196-8 in their allotted 30 overs after electing to batting first and Province 2 raced to 198-9 in 28.4 overs.

Province 2 won the match riding on Amit Yadav's 59-ball 61 that included four boundaries and a six, while Bibek Yadav scored an unbeaten 34-ball 57 hitting six boundaries and three sixes.

Narayan Joshi, Mahesh Sawad, Narendra Sawad and Rahul Bhandari claimed two wickets each for Province 7.

Earlier, Province 7 posted the fighting total after Rahul Bhandari scored 50 off 49 balls that included seven boundaries. Narayan Joshi scored 15-ball 30 with the help of four boundaries and a six. Nikhil Singh claimed two wickets, while player-of-the-match Bibek Yadav, Byash Yadav Bikram Kushwaha, Samsad Ali Mansuri and Trit Raj Das took one wicket each for Province 2.

In the second match, Province 4 scored 77-9 after put into bat first and Province 5 scored 82-1 in 9.1 overs. Skipper Bishal Bikram KC scored an unbeaten 30-ball 37 hitting five boundaries and two sixes, while Sijan Makaju remained not out on 25-ball 36 that included four boundaries and two sixes to help Province 5 record comfortable victory.

Earlier, Province 4 faltered with the bat. Anit Baral (16) and Dipendra Shrees (12) were the only two batsmen who scored in double figures. Nabin Bhattarai claimed three wickets and Aayush Pandey took two wickets for Province 5.