Nepal Police Club thumped arch-rivals Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club by eight wickets to claim the Kathmandu Mayor’s Cup one-day cricket tournament trophy at the TU grounds, Kirtipur, on Saturday.

Electing to bat first, APF were bowled out for a paltry total of 105 runs in 29.4 overs after fast bowler Gulsan Jha and Sagar Dhakal claimed four wickets each. In the run chase, Sunil Dhamala completed an unbeaten half century as Police made 110-2 in 24.1 overs.

Champions Police bagged a purse of Rs500,000 and trophy while the runners-up APF walked away with Rs300,000.

APF made a shaky start to their innings losing three wickets for just 10 runs as they lost openers Shankar Rana for four runs and Aasif Sheikh for a duck. Captain Sharad Vesawkar also failed to open the scoring.

Bhuvan Karki and Sundeep Jora scored 14 and 18 runs respectively and shared a 32-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Karki was dismissed. Lower middle order batsman Basanta Regmi was the highest scorer for APF with 22 runs under his belt. He hit three fours in his 41-ball knock.

Amar Routela, who scored 18 runs, and Abinash Bohara, who contributed 12 runs, were the other two batsmen to score in double digit figures for APF.

Police bowlers Jha and Dhakal were the pick of bowlers sharing four wickets each under their belts. Jha conceded 36 runs in his seven-over spell while Dhakal conceded 28 runs in his 7.4 overs of bowling.

In the run chase, Police opener Dhamala cracked an unbeaten 59 runs. He hit seven fours and two sixes in his 82-ball knock. Kushal Bhurtel and Anil Sah contributed equal 15 runs each. Dipendra Sing Airee remained unbeaten on 11 runs.

APF bowlers Abinash Bohara and Bhuvan Karki pocketed one wicket each.

Police’s Airee was named player of the tournament while Tribhuvan Army Club’s Binod Bhandari and Bagmati Province’s Ariyo Poudel were adjudged the best batsman and the best bowler respectively.

The tournament organised by Cricket Association of Nepal and sponsored by Kathmandu Metropolitan City featured five teams. The teams finishing on top two positions in the round robin league had played in the final.