Cricket
APF pull off second victory
The departmental team beat Bagmati by 53 runs. Madhesh beat Karnali by eight wickets.Sports Bureau
Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club registered a thumping 53-run victory over Bagmati Province in the Prime Minister Cup National Twenty20 women’s cricket tournament in Itahari on Sunday.
Captain Sita Rana Magar came up with an all-round show for the departmental team who pulled off their second victory in their Group ‘A’ game to move on top of the points table. Bagmati are yet to open their account after losing two games in a row.
Sent in to bat, APF posted 136/4 and restricted Bagmati to 83/9 in the allotted 20 overs. Bagmati captain Rana Magar scored a 29-ball 36 and claimed two wickets while bowling. The player-of-the-match, Magar, hit five boundaries in her knock and also shared a 54-run partnership for the first wicket with Jyoti Pandey. She was bowled by Manisha Upadhayay.
Indu Barma scored a 27-ball 38, the highest of the innings, studded with three fours and a six. Asmina Karmacharya got her wicket. Opener Pandey contributed a patient 15 off 27 balls.
APF’s Nary Thapa played for a run-a-ball 19, remaining not out and Rajmati Airee was unbeaten on a 20-ball 9.
Bagmati bowlers Pakhrin and Karmachary, Khusi Dangol and Manisha Upadhayay shared a wicket each.
Chasing the target, only the top order Bagmati batters managed to touch double digit scores. Openers Helisha Gurung scored 22 off 25 and Kanchan Shrestha 11 off 13 before they were sent back to the pavilion.
Sony Pakrin scored a 21-ball 13 and captain Asmina Karmacharya contributed an 18-ball 10 as Bagmati reached 64/4. But none of the batters after that scored in double digits and their scoring was restricted to 83 runs in the allotted overs.
Bagmati bowler Nisha Bhatt grabbed three wickets in her four-over spell, conceding 11 runs, while captain Rana Magar gave away 16 runs in her four overs of bowling.
Madhesh pull off first win
In the late fixture, Madhesh Province registered a comfortable eight-wicket win over Karnali Province to pull off their first victory after the second game, inflicting on the latter a second straight defeat.
Electing to bat first, Karnali posted a low total of 79/6. Chasing the target, Anuradha Chaudhary-inspired Madhesh raced to victory, scoring 80/2 in 10.2 overs.
Madhesh opener Kiran Kunwar and Anju Gurung scored 13 runs each, with the latter remaining unbeaten, while Trishna Biswakarma scored a 30-ball 15, the highest of the innings.
Madhesh bowler Bhumi Singh, named player-of-the-match, claimed four wickets in her four-over spell, conceding 19 runs. Amiran Nisha took two wickets.
Chasing the target, opener Chuadhary slammed an unbeaten 38 runs of 35 balls that included five fours. She also shared an unbeaten 70-run partnership with Pratima Sah, who remained not out on a 24-ball 18.
Bina Thapa of Karnali claimed both the Madhesh wickets that fell. She gave away 28 runs in her 3.2 overs of bowling.