Rain, Patel bowl MCC to victory

Kathmandu, March 20:

Merylebone Cricket Club (MCC) of England defeated CAN President XI by eight runs under the D/L method in the first match of their friendly series here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium on Friday.

Batting first, the home team were bowled out for 138 runs in 41.4 overs, while the visitors were 77-4 — eight runs ahead of the home team in 25.2 overs.

CAN President XI got off to a dream start with Paresh Lohani and Subash Khakurel adding 70 runs for the opening stand before Khakurel (21) was caught and bowled by man of the match Nishel Patel, who took 7-29 with his off spin.

The home team then threw away the last six wickets for just 38 runs. Lohani scored a fluent 43 off 53 balls hitting four boundaries before being bowled by Nishel in the 18th over. Sunam Gautam hit two fours in his 24-ball 13 before giving a catch to skipper Min Patel off Nishel, while tailender Pramod Basnet scored 13 off 20 balls hitting two boundaries. Skipper Binod Das’ nine included a six. Apart from Nishel’s heroics, Peter King claimed 2-27 off nine overs and Glen Read pocketed 1-35 off 9.4 overs.

In reply, the MCC team had relatively slow start scoring seven runs in five overs. They had reached 38 in the 16th over before Pramod Basnet made the breakthrough bowling opener Matt Walker for 15 runs. Basnet trapped Ian Fletcher in his next over to reduce the visitors for 40-2. Fletcher struck a six and a four in his 47-ball 21. The MCC team came under pressure when Manjeet Shrestha claimed two wickets reducing the hosts to 49/4 in the 21st over. Shrestha bowled Keith Newell (5) before dismissing James Evans (1), caught by substitute Suraj Timilsina.

That brought in Keith Parsons and Jason Finch at the crease and the duo added 28 runs for the fifth wicket before rain had the final say. Basnet finished with 2-17, while Shrestha took 2-22.