Province 3 got off to a winning start in the first Manmohan Memorial Inter-Province U-16 National cricket tournament with a two-wicket victory over Province 1 the TU Stadium on Thursday.

Pratish GC picked up four wickets restricting Province 1 to 119-6 in the 30-over-a-side game. Province 3 had a roller coaster ride in their chase before Abhishek Basnet and Bipul Khanal (eight not out) guided Province 3 to 120-8 in 28 overs.

Sushant Karki and Ashok Paudel (24) had lifted Province 3 from 40-3 with a 42-run partnership for the fourth wicket. But Province 1 hit back into contention taking next four wickets for just 15 runs reducing Province 3 to 99-8. However, Basnet and Khanal held firm to sail their team through.

Basnet made 19 off 32 with one boundary and Karki top scored for them with a 28-ball 32 hitting three boundaries. Luv Kamat, Dipesh Kandel, Shrawan Kishku, Sameer Timilsina and Bibek Mehta took a wicket each.

Earlier, Bibek Mehta’s half century had pushed Province 1 towards a respectable total after GC’s four-wicket haul had reduced them to 14-5 at one stage. Mehta shared 45 runs for the sixth wicket with Abhishek Baral (24). Gaurav Katuwal did remove Baral as Province 1 scores read 59-6 but Mehta continued to rebuild the innings with a 60-run unbroken stand for the seventh wicket with Kandel.

Mehta struck a 65-ball 56 with four boundaries and a six, while Kandel contributed 24 off 37 with three fours and a six. Man-of-the-match GC returned the figures of 4-11 from six overs.

On Friday, Province 4 will take on Province 2 and Province 5 will be up against Province 7 in the Group ‘A’ matches. All seven provinces of the country are participating in the league-cum-knockout tournament organised by Manmohan Memorial Cricket Centre.