Sunil Dhamala and Dipendra Singh Airee starred with the bat for Nepal Police Club as they beat Lumbini Province by 74 runs to register their second consecutive win in the Prime Minister Cup national one-day cricket tournament at the TU cricket grounds in Kirtipur on Thursday.

Opener Dhamala cracked 104 runs while middle-order batsman Airee scored 85 runs.

Police, invited to bat first, posted a challenging total of 310-4. In reply, Lumbini could only muster 236-7 in their allotted 50 overs.

With the result, Police have climbed to the second spot in Group ‘B’ with four points from three matches. They are behind Bagmati on net run rate. Lumbini are third in the five-team pool with two points from as many matches.

Man-of-the-match Dhamala hit seven boundaries and a six in his 145-ball knock. He shared a 129-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Airee before being stumped by wicketkeeper Sushant Thapa in 43.5 overs. Airee, the next wicket to fall, hit six sixes and a boundary in his 61-ball knock. He was caught by Pranit Thapa Magar off Saurav Khanal.

Pawan Sarraf smashed an unbeaten 50 runs facing just 13 deliveries—the fastest half-century in national cricket. His innings included a four and six sixes. Sarraf hit Bikram Bhusal for 17 runs in five balls in the penultimate over while he smashed Khanal for 28 runs, including four sixes, in the final over.

Police batsmen Aarif Sheikh remained unbeaten on 29 runs while Amit Shrestha was the other remarkable contributor with 28 runs under his kitty.

Lumbini bowlers Khanal, Dipendra Rawat, Anil Kharel, and Krishna Karki claimed a wicket apiece.

During the run chase, Lumbini made a shaky start losing openers Sandeep Sunar for a duck and Sushant Thapa for four runs. But Sandeep Rajali and Dev Khanal played a 66- run partnership for the third wicket. Rajali hit 40 off 79 and Khanal contributed 49 off 71.

Lumbini's Khanal, who came to bat at number 7, took the challenge to the opponents as he made 74 runs. He hit six boundaries and five sixes in his 60-ball knock before being caught by Kushal Bhurtel off Airee.

Krishna Karki cracked an unbeaten 40 off 24 while Rajbir Singh was the other major contributor scoring 24 runs for Lumbini.

Police bowler Rashid Khan and Pawan Sarraf claimed two wickets each.

APF thump Gandaki for second victory

Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club thumped Gandaki Province by six wickets at the Mulpani grounds to register their second victory from as many matches in Group 'A' of the Prime Minister Cup.

With a match in hand, APF are two points behind rivals Tribhuvan Army Club, who lead the standings. Gandaki are fourth in the five-team table with two points after playing four matches.

APF bowler Kamal Airee claimed four wickets from the Gandaki squad, invited to bat first. They were bowled out for 106 runs in 46 overs. In reply, APF chased down the target in 17.3 overs for the loss of four wickets after opener Asif Sheikh scored the highest 78 runs.

Gandaki opener Sameer Kandel contributed 36 runs, the highest in the innings. Bishnu Pandey (15), Dinesh Budhamagar (12), Deepesh Khatri (15) were the only other bowlers to touch double figures.

APF bowler Airee gave away 11 runs in his 10 overs spell with three maiden overs. Abinash Bohara and Sharad Vesawkar grabbed two wickets apiece.

In the run chase, Sheikh made the work easy for APF with his 78 runs despite losing his opening partner Subash Khakurel out in the first ball. Sumit Maharjan was the other major contributor with 18 runs in his account.

Gandaki bowler Chandra Paudel and Bishal Paudel claimed two wickets apiece.

On Friday, Karnali play Province 1 at the TU grounds, and Bagmati take on Province 2.