Nepal Police Club (NPC) entered the semi-finals of the Prime Minister Cup On-Day National cricket tournament despite not being in action at the TU grounds on Friday.

After the Group ‘B’ match between Far-western Region and Eastern Region was abandoned due to rain, the result benefited NPC who have four points from their first two matches. Eastern, playing their last league game, were knocked out, finishing with just one point.

Farwest, meanwhile, can still be in the hunt for the semi-finals provided they beat another title contenders Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) in their final group game on Saturday. If they go on to win Saturday’s game, the final league match of the group between TAC and NPC on Sunday will decided the remaining team to go through.

In the match on Friday, Farwest elected to bat first and a half century from Bijay Rana guided them to 153 all out in 45.3 overs. They had a dream start in the defence when three quick wickets from spinner Binod Lama reduced Eastern to just 22-4 in four overs. Soon after the lunch break, rain came pouring down and the consistent downpour forced the umpires to call off the game. There is no reserve day in the tournament.

Earlier, Rana top scored for Farwest with a 108-ball 55 with two boundaries and was the last man to be dismissed, bowled by Eastern skipper Pushpa Thapa. Rana forged a 40-run partnership with Santosh Bhatta who scored 22 from 46 balls with a boundary.

Anil Kumar Thapa (11) and Roshan Nepali (10) were the other notable Farwest batsman to make runs in double figures. Skipper Thapa (3-31) and Sagar Dhakal (3-18) shared six wickets between them for Eastern with Minash Thapa also getting two scalps.