Nepal clinched the maiden ACC U-16 Eastern Region cricket tournament with a 71-run win over Singapore in the final at the Terdthai cricket grounds in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday.

Electing to bat first, Nepal scored 183-6 in 35 overs and restricted Singapore for 112 in 31.5 overs. In the absence of regular skipper Rit Gautam, Bishal Bikram KC led Nepal scoring a match-winning 63 from No 7 batsman Narayan Joshi lifted the team to a respectable total.

Nepal made a poor start losing openers Kushal Malla (0) and Rajan Magar (3) 

cheaply to be 21-2 by the sixth over but a combined effort from the middle order rescued Nepal. Subodh Ayer struck run- a-ball 22, while Trit Raj Das (19) and Sunil Bhandari (15) chipped in a valuable runs.

KC was the last man out for Nepal after scoring four boundaries and a six in his 79-ball knock. KC and Joshi put on a quick 48-run sixth wicket stand in 33 balls. Joshi remained unbeaten on 46 after clobbering five fours and a six in his 23-ball knock. Ishaan Sawney took two, while Rajesh Krishnan, Raoul Sharma, Pramesh  Singhavi claimed one wicket each for Singapore.

In reply, only opener Sai Harsha Venugopal and middle order batsman Arnav Wadhwa put on some resistance for Singapore. Venugopal scored  a painstaking 31 runs from 65 deliveries, while Wadhwa hit 22-ball 21. Raoul Sharma (15) was their next best contributor with the bat. Surya Tamang (3-20) and Ajay Kumar Loniya (3-16) shared six wickets  for Nepal.

Nepal finished the inaugural tournament, a development programme of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), unbeaten. They made it the final after seeing off Malaysia by 72 runs in the semi-finals on Saturday. Nepal had been the ACC U-16 champions in 2014 but then it was played as the ACC U-16 Premier.

Das also finished as the leading scorer of the tournament with 162 runs from five matches. Joshi became the highest wicket-taker with 12 followed by the Nepali teammate Surya Tamang, who bagged nine.

Rit Gautam also became the first Nepali cricketer to slam century at the  ACC U-16 tournament when he scored an unbeaten 106 against Myanmar  during the league stage on December 14.

Summary

Nepal 183-6 in 35 overs (Bishal KC 63, N Joshi 46; I Sawney 2-31, R Krishnan 1-36) beat Singapore 112 in 31.5 overs (SH Venugopal 31, A Wadhwa 21; S Tamang 3-20, N Joshi 1-23, AK Loniya 3-16 ) by 71 runs