Nepal Armed Police Force Club made a flying start to their Prime Minister Cup National one-day cricket tournament campaign with a 135-run win over Province 1 at the TU cricket grounds in Kirtipur on Saturday.

Put to bat first, the departmental team scored 243 runs in 48.4 overs losing all the wickets. In reply they bowled out Province 1 for 108 runs in 42.4 overs.

Opener Asif Sheikh contributed the highest 59 runs for APF while national player Basanta Regmi scored 40 runs. Sundeep Jora was another major contributor for the departmental side scoring 30 runs.

APF made a solid start to their innings as openers Subash Khakurel and Sheikh played a 71-run partnership for the first wicket. The 20-year-old Sheikh played a quickfire 59 off 32 runs before he was caught by Josak Khadka off Dipesh Kandel. He cracked six fences and five sixes.

APF lost the next three batsmen cheaply—captain Sharad Vesawkar for 20 runs, Pradeep Airee for seven runs and Sumit Maharjan for 14 runs—as they were left to struggle at 126-5. But Jora and Regmi played a 66-run partnership for the sixth wicket to lift the innings. Regmi, the next batsman to fall, hit four boundaries and two sixes in his 52-ball knock. He was caught by wicketkeeper Rajan Magar in the 39th over.

Jora returned to the pavilion in the following over scoring 30 off 39. He hit four boundaries before being caught by Khadka off Sarwan Yadav. APF lost Bhuvan Karki and Kamal Airee in quick succession with seven and five runs under their belt respectively. Kishore Mahato contributed 19 runs while Abinash Bohara remained unbeaten on six runs.

Province 1 bowlers Firdosh Ansari, Dipesh Kandel, Hemant Rai and Sarwan Yadav grabbed two wickets apiece.

The provincial team’s run chase never took off as they lost wickets at a regular interval. Openers Deepak Paswan and Minash Thapa, Ansari, Kandel and Khadka were the only batsmen to touch double figures.

Opener Thapa was the highest scorer with 18 runs under his belt. Paswan scored 13 runs while Ansari contributed 17 runs. Tailender duo Kandel and Khadka scored 16 and unbeaten 12 runs respectively.

APF’s Abinash Bohara was the most successful bowler with five wickets in his kitty. The man-of-the-match conceded 18 runs in his 10-over spell with six maiden overs. Spinner Regmi grabbed two wickets. He gave away 15 runs in his 10 over bowling with three maiden overs.

There will be two matches on Sunday with Nepal Police Club taking on Bagmati Province at the TU grounds while Army will vie with Karnali Province at the Mulpani grounds.