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Nepal’s under-16 cricket team maintained their recent supremacy by winning the ACC U16 Eastern Region competition by beating Malaysia by 59 runs in the final at Prem International School in Chiang Mai as they retained the trophy they had won in Bangkok in December 2017.
Deepak Bohara gave a fine all-round performance by hitting a rapid 23 and taking three wickets, but it was left-arm quick Bishal Kumar Patel who delivered the knock out blow to Malaysia’s hopes with a devastating new ball spell of three wickets as he went a long way to ensure Nepal would defend their total of 140 and their under-16 crown.
Bohara was named player of the match in the final and Singapore’s Girin Gune was awarded batsman of the tournament as he scored 56 in the third place play-off to take his tally of runs to exactly 200. Malaysia’s off-spinner Sachinu Hettige, so impressive in both semi-final and final, was awarded bowler of the tournament and it was appropriate that Nepal’s captain Bishal Bikram who handled his team so astutely to gain five wins out of five was made player of the tournament for his all-round performance. Singapore beat Hong Kong by 81 runs at Royals to finish in third place as once again runs on the board provided the key to success at this level.
Nepal were facing Malaysia ain the final at Prem fter each team had won semi-finals on Saturday as Nepal beat Hong Kong by four wickets after bowling them out for 86 and Malaysia defeated Singapore by 57 runs after scoring 170 for 6 in their 35 overs.
The two teams also faced each other in the group stages and Nepal came out on top in a competitive contest as they were dismissed for 141 inside 35 overs before restricting Malaysia to a total of 102 to win by 39 runs. We were hoping for another exciting encounter today as Nepal won the toss and elected to bat first.
Malaysia had shown they have a good bowling attack throughout this tournament as they had been able to take all ten wickets in each of the four matches they had played. Malaysia had a well balanced attack and leading wicket-taker Ahmed Akmal again took a wicket with the new ball. Nepal tried to counter attack as opener Deepak Bohara hit two fours and a six before hitting a long hop from Jinendra Muraly into the hands of cover.
Jinendra followed up by bowling Aasish Bhattaraj to leave Nepal on a precarious 33 for 3. Jinendra finished his spell with figures of 2 for 31 but Nepal captain Bishal Bikram KC looked composed and also hit a six before he was caught behind off the bowling of Sachinu Hettige as Malaysia turned to spin. The match was evenly balanced after 20 overs as Nepal were 76 for 4.
Nepal knew they would have a competitive total if they kept their run-rate at around four an over and were able to use up their full quota of 35 overs. Prashant Mahal batted extremely sensibly to reach 40 from 67 balls with five fours and although Sachinu Hettige bowled beautifully to claim 3 for 14 from his 7 overs as he deceived the Nepal batsmen with his flight.and guile including the important wicket of Mahal who was yorked as he tried to come down the wicket. With five overs of their innings left Nepal were 117 for 7.
Mission accomplished with the bat for Nepal as they found their way to a total of 140 for 9 in 35 overs. Malaysia did a professional job in the field and would have felt they had a good chance of victory if they could bat as well as they did against Singapore in the semi-final. Chasing a target is often more challenging than setting one and Malaysia had been dismissed for 102 in their previous match against Nepal when they were beaten by 39 runs.
Nepal quickly took control as Malaysia started their chase. Left-arm fast bowler Bishal Kumar Patel bowled impressively with the new ball in the semi-final and he bowled even better in the final as he claimed the first three wickets in a fiery opening spell. He bowled Kishan Kumar for nought and follwed by having Sidharth Karthik and Wan Mohammad caught behind by keeper Rohan Dudhraj.
Malaysia were in trouble at 25 for 3 as Patel completed an impressive spell of 3 for 17 in 6 overs. The introduction of spin saw Lokman play across the line to Deepak Bohara as the fourth wicket fell on 34 and Wan Ahmed was run out to leave Malaysia well behind the rate on 37 for 5 after 15 overs.
Things did not get better for Malaysia as Deepak Bohara claimed three wickets to add to a quickfire 23 at the start of Nepal’s innings. Malaysia collapsed to 42 for 7 and although the lower-order swung hard their efforts were in vain as Malaysia could manage a total of only 81. Left-arm seamer Bishal Kumar Patel had an outstanding day with the ball as he took three wickets in a testing opening spell and he returned to take a fourth wicket in his final over.
Nepal were awarded the trophy for winning the ACC U16 Eastern Region competition after they beat Malaysia by 59 runs as they retained the trophy they had won when it was first contested in 2017 to continue their dominance at under-16 level in ACC tournaments. Malaysia had done well to reach the final with an outstanding performance against Singapore in the semi-final but their batsmen could not repeat their heroics batting second against Nepal.
Singapore also much preferred bat first as they gave a much improved display as they scored 172 for 7 against Hong Kong in the third place play-off at Royals and gained a comprehensive victory by 81 runs as Hong Kong were dismissed for 91.
