Province No 7 and Province No 2 entered the semi-finals of the first Manmohan Memorial Inter-Province U-16 National cricket tournament on Monday. 

In a Group ‘A’ match at the TU grounds, Province 2 edged Province 7 by one wicket to advance as pool runners-up. With a healthy net run-rate, Province 7 were all but assured of a place in the last four and Monday’s slim defeat still saw them finish at the top of the table on better run-rate after three teams were tied on two points each. 

Province 2 victory dented  hopes of Province 5 playing in the last four as they were pushed to third on net run-rate despite a crushing nine-wicket win over Province 4. In the semi-finals on Tuesday, Province 7 will meet Group ‘B’ runners-up Province 1 and Province 2 will be up against Province 1. 

Electing to field first, Province 2 failed to contain Province 7 batsmen as they put on 196-8 in 30 overs. But half centuries from opener Amit Yadav and Bibek Yadav guided Province 2 to 198-9 in 28.4 overs. Province 2 were 49-4 at one stage but Amit brought his team back in contention by putting on 68 runs for the fifth wicket with Sahil Patel (31). Province 7 sniffed victory after they took four wickets for 20 runs by reducing Province 2 to 137-8. 

But Bibek hung around with the lower order batsmen and contributed an important 34-ball 57 not out with six boundaries and three sixes. Amit top scored with a 59-ball 61 hitting four boundaries and a six. Narayan Joshi, Mahesh Sawad, Narendra Sawad and Rahul Bhandari took two wickets each for Province 7. 

Earlier, Bhandari struck a 49-ball 50 with seven boundaries for Province 7 that saw five other batsmen contributing in double digits. Joshi also played a 15-ball cameo of 30. Nikhil Singh took two wickets for Province 2. 

In the second game of the day, Nabin Bhattarai (3-18) and Aayush Pandey (2-19) shared five wickets as Province 5 restricted Province 4 for 77-9 in 30 overs. Province 5 lost opener Kushal Malla (0) in the first ball but Bishal Bikram KC and Sijan Mukaju guided the team to victory with 82-run stand for the second wicket. KC scored a 30-ball 37 with five boundaries and Makaju hit 36 off 25 balls with four boundaries. Both batsmen also hit two sixes each.