Kathmandu, March 23:

Sharad Vesawkar scored a fluent half century while Shakti Gauchan shone with bat and ball as CAN Secretary XI beat Merylebone Cricket Club (MCC) by 103 runs in their friendly match here today.

Batting first at the TU Stadium, the home side scored 249-9 in 50 overs and restricted the visitors to 146 in 40.5 overs to square the series at 1-1.

Gauchan, Gyanendra Malla and Pramod Basnet also made significant contributions with the bat. Batting at No 5, Vesawkar struck four fours and as many sixes in his flawless knock of an unbeaten 67 off 63.

The CAN Secretary XI looked shaky at 167-8 in the 43rd over but Vesawkar and No 10 batsman Basnet shared 82-run unbroken partnership for the last wicket. The duo added 50 runs off the last three overs.

Earlier, Dipendra Chaudhary and Subash Khakurel put on 31 runs for the opening stand before Khakurel (six) was caught by Keith Parsons off Peter King, who also accounted for opener Chaudhary after the home team had added one more run on the board. Chaudhary hit three fours in his 41-ball 23.

Gauchan and Malla took the team past three figures with the 74-run stand for the third wicket. Gauchan scored 39 off 68 balls including five hits to the fence before being bowled by off spinner Nishel Patel. Malla struck four boundaries and a six in his 41-ball 33.

After the fall of Malla and Gauchan at 112-4, the home team added 55 runs losing four wickets before Vesawkar and Basnet scored runs at will all over the grounds. Basnet struck four fours and six in his quick fire 34 off 24 balls. Nishel Patel, who took seven wickets in the first match on Friday, claimed 4-35 off 10 overs. Peter King and Ian Fletcher bagged two wickets each.

In reply, MCC openers Matt Walker and Ian Fletcher made a confident start adding 47 runs in 15 over before the former was run out by Paras Khadka in the first ball of Rahul BK. Walker scored 15 off 49 balls hitting three fours.

Gauchan took his first wicket trapping James Evans in the 19th over before Rahul bowled Fletcher to reduce the visitors to 63-3. Fletcher struck five fours and a six in his 52-ball 35.

Keith Parsons and Neil Jones added 28 runs for the fourth wicket before Vesawkar bowled Jones for 17 runs. Sanjam Regmi then dismissed Nishel Patel (4) and skipper Binod Das struck twice to put the visitors under pressure at 141-7 in the 39th over. Das bowled Mard Dale (3) and had dangerman Keith Parsons caught behind. Parsons scored 50 off 63 balls that included four fours and a six. Gauchan then nabbed two wickets before Rahul BK wrapped up the innings.

Gauchan took 3-15 off 10 overs that also earned him the man of the match award. Rahul BK claimed 2-16 off 6.5 overs, while Das pocketed 2-29 off eight overs. Sanjam and Sharad also bagged one wicket each. On Tuesday, the tourists will play a Twenty20 match and also conduct a training camp for the Under-17 players. They held a training camp in Bhaktapur on Sunday.