The top-order batters of all four teams in the Jay Trophy were in good form on Monday.

The second round of matches of the multi-day red-ball cricket tournament kicked off on Monday between Armed Police Force (APF) Club and Nepal Police Club at the TU International Cricket Stadium, while Bagmati Province faced Tribhuvan Army Club at the Upper Mulpani Cricket Ground.

At the end of Day 1, there were five individual half-centuries scored across the two venues, while four batsmen scored 40+.

Winning the toss at Mulpani, Police’s skipper Aarif Sheikh invited APF to bat first. Responding to the invitation, the top five batsmen of APF smashed 150 runs before being bundled out at 185.

Sumit Maharjan (55 off 100) managed the only half-century for APF, while skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel fell short of five runs for his third consecutive fifty in the tournament.

Paudel was not out at 87 off 113 and 56 off 43 in the two innings as APF defeated Bagmati by eight wickets in their tournament opener at Mulpani.

While Sundeep Jora had also smashed a quick 61 off 48 in the first inning against Bagmati, he could not repeat the same against Police. Jora was caught at 10 off 31 on Monday, while the two openers—Deepak Bohara (28 off 73) and Aasif Sheikh (12 off 31)—could manage an average score.

At the tail end, there were no other players for APF, except teenager Yuvraj Khatri (16 off 17), to score in double figures.

With two experienced spinners, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Sagar Dhakal, bagging four wickets each, Police, with Kushal Bhurtel bagging two, were able to bundle out APF at 185 in 63.4 overs. While the score was average, APF showed their class by staying long at the crease.

On the other hand, Bagmati batted for up to 70 overs. It was the most overs batted by a team in an inning in Jay Trophy’s history. The record so far was the 64.1 overs batted by Madhesh Province in the second inning against Tribhuvan Army Club in the inaugural edition.

Moreover, Bagmati also scored sufficiently in 70 overs. After batting for 420 legal deliveries, Bagmati declared at 259/7 on the back of two individual half-centuries by Ashutosh Ghiraiya (77 off 127) and Ishan Pandey (69 off 104).

Bibek Magar (31 off 43) also contributed well for the only provincial team in the tournament, alongside 20 runs each by Rit Gautam and Shubh Kansakar.

Shahab Alam picked three wickets for Army, Naren Saud took two, while Basir Ahmad and Kushal Malla claimed one each.

In turn, Army, before Stumps, managed 191/3 in 40 overs on the back of Bhim Sharki’s 74 off 83. Sharki was marching closer to his second century in Jay Trophy, which would have been the first time a batsman was able to pull off that feat, before getting caught behind the stumps in 37.3 overs.

Rijan Dhakal took more than a minute to bowl the third ball of the 38th over after two consecutive dot balls to Sharki. He then bowled wide towards the leg side, which got a soft touch off Sharki’s bat while trying to show the ball a direction towards square leg.

Opener Trit Raj Das managed 38 off 44 for Army in the second inning. Santosh Karki (43 off 79) was at the forefront by the Stumps, getting closer towards his fifty. Ahmad (5 off 9) is at the other end as Army trail by 68 runs.

Bagmati’s skipper Sandeep Lamichhane and teenager Bipin Sharma picked the two other wickets against Army.

Shankar Rana of Police was also close to his fifty against APF. Despite losing the openers—Sohail Kunwar (0 off 4) and Kushal Bhurtel (22 off 43)—for a paltry, Amit Shrestha (41 off 50) and Dilshad Ali (58 off 87) kept Police in the game.

Rana was batting at 48 off 94 after the umpires called for Stumps following the wicket of skipper Aarif (9 off 21) with a ball remaining for the completion of 50 overs.

At 179/5, Police are trailing by six runs. APF used seven bowlers, of whom five—Irshad Ahmad, Abhishesh Gautam, Khatri, Amar Routela and Jora—picked one wicket each.