Nepal won over Italy ICC in World Cricket League Division 4

KATHMANDU, AUG 16 2010 08:19 – Nepal continued their impressive record against Italy as they routed the host by five wickets at the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 4 at the Pianora Ground on Sunday.

The bowlers had done an excellent job to restrict Italy for 71 runs in 33.1 overs. However, Nepal had to toil hard to reach the target. Opener Mahesh Chettri anchored Nepal’s innings with his 19 runs after Anil Mandal had departed for a duck. Chettri and Shakti Gauchan (13 runs) put on 29 runs to get Nepal back on course.

Nepal had to wait till the 25 over to complete the match. It took another partnership of 22 runs between Sharad Vesawkar (10 runs) and Mehboob Alam (16 runs) to get Nepal home comfortably. Earlier, Amrit Bhattarai had taken three wickets to restrict the host for 71 runs in 33.1 overs.

Bhattarai took two quick wickets and Italy were hobbling at 27/3. PA Petricola then took the initiative as he shot three boundaries and scored 15 runs in 22 overs but his innings was caught short by skipper Paras Khadka in the 18th over and Italy were 42/4. Had it not been the for HS Jayasena’s 16 runs contribution from the lower order, Italy would have failed to set a total past the 50 runs. Gauchan, Basanta Regmi and Khadka claimed two wickets each.  Nepal had defeated Italy by 95 runs at the WCL qualifier Division 2 back in 2005.

The abandoned first match between Nepal and the US will be replayed on Monday.

Kantipur Reporter