Eastern Region pipped Far-Western Region on net run-rate on Monday to set the NSC National Women’s Twenty20 Championship title clash against Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club.

The rain played spoilsports in the ‘winners take all’ Group ‘B’ match at the Tribhuvan University Stadium. Far-Western were down at an embarrassing 7-6 in 7.2 overs when rain intervened to cancel the entire game. As it stood, both team finished on three points from two games in the three-team pool and Eastern sneaked into final courtesy their better net run-rate. APF advanced to the final from Group ‘A’ on Sunday with a nine-wicket win over Mid-Western Region on Sunday.

In another inconsequential Group ‘A’ match, Mid-western Region defeated Central Region by five wickets. Central Region scored 57-4 in the rain-reduced 10-over match and Mid-Western achieved their target in the last ball of their innings, making 60-5. Player-of-the-match Laxmi Chaudhary scored an unbeaten 39 runs for the winners.

The tournament featured six teams—five regional and APF Club—with the champions walking away with Rs 100,000. The runner-up will receive Rs 50,000. The teams were divided into two pools of three with top team from each group playing for the title. The tournament will serve as the basis for the team selection for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier-Asia, to be held in Mong Kok, Hong Kong on October 9-15. Apart from hosts Hong Kong and Nepal, China and Thailand are the two other teams vying for one berth available for Asia in the global qualifying tournament.

A Cricket Coordination Committee formed under NSC member Sailesh Karmacharya is overseeing the tournament. The NSC is organising the tournament in the absence of cricket governing body of late. The International Cricket Council on April 25 suspended the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), saying that it is in a state of leadership vacuum due to the dual existence of the governing committees.