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Singapore and Nepal lived up to their reputations as the two strongest sides in the ACC U16 Eastern Region competition but the last day of the group stages did not see as much competitive action as had been hoped for with Thailand and China both looking to affect the final outcome.
The two lower ranked teams at least had a mathematical chance of reaching the last four butt it wasn’t to be as Singapore and Nepal confirmed their dominance to finish top of their respective groups with Hong Kong and Malaysia also reaching the semi-finals.
There was no question of Singapore’s superiority over China at Royals as they hit the tournament’s highest total as they reached 352 for 6 in 35 overs with Girin Gune htting the first century of the competition as he made 105 from 71 balls with 18 fours and a six.
Gune shared a third-wicket partnership of 215 with Aarnav Chabria who scored 88 from 68 balls with 13 fours. The boundary fest continued with Adityia Kalra racing to 37 from 14 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. China could not match the fireworks provided by Singapore but instead concentrated on occupying the crease. Weiye He was particularly obdurate as he scored two runs from his first 49 balls, hit a boundary from his 50th and was bowled by his 51st.
Abhuday Chhajer finished off the innings as he claimed four wickets for 16 as China were dismissed for 74 in 28.1 overs as they were beaten by Singapore by the overwhelming margin of 278 runs. Singapore won Group B with three wins out of three and Hong Kong finished second with a win and a no result.
Nepal were in a strong position against Thailand at Prem when their match was abandoned because of the onset of rain and strong unpredictable winds which made conditions too dangerous for the match to be completed. Nepal scored 234 for 7 in their 35 overs and Thailand had already lost a wicket without scoring a run when rain drove the players from the field.
Nepal had chosen to bat first and showed they had a strong batting line-up as opener Deepak Bohara scored 35, Aasish Bhattaraj 58 and Bishal Bikram 38, while Narawit Nuntarach bowled well to take 3 for 41 in his seven overs.
Clouds built up during the lunch interval and claps of thunder suggested a storm was on the way. Thailand had just lost their first wicket in the second over when the players came off the field and the hosts never had a proper chance to attempt the target of 235 in 32 overs that would have taken them ahead of Malaysia on net run rate and into second place in the Group A table.The match was declared a no result and both sides gained one point with the result that Nepal topped the group on 5 points while Malaysia were second on 4 points, and Thailand third on 3 points.
The semi-finals of the ACC U16 Eastern Region competition will be played on Saturday with Nepal facing Hong Kong at Prem and Singapore playing Malaysia at Royals.
