Nepal ‘Blue’ registered their first victory in three matches as Nepal ‘Red’ climbed to the top of the Super League Cricket Tournament on Thursday.

Blue toppled Nepal ‘Orange’ from the top with a crushing 75-run victory in a match reduced to 20 overs due to wet outfield at the Pulchowk Engineering College grounds. Their maiden victory in the round robin league benefitted ‘Red’ who overcame Nepal ‘Grey’ by six wickets at the

TU grounds. Red lead the

table on better run rate after they were tied on six points with Orange.

Grey are third in the table with four and Blue have two, while Nepal ‘Green’ are winless in three matches. The tournament serves as selection for the upcoming WCL matches against Papua New Guinea slated for November 16 and 18 in the UAE. CAN will also hold another league picking up the best 30 players after the completion of the first round.

Blue fired with their top three batsmen with opener Naresh Budhayer’s half century lifting them to 143-6 in

20 overs. Sompal Kami returned to the game for

Blue and picked up three wickets in three overs conceding just one run restricting Orange to 68-5. Suraj Kurmi top scored for Orange with 26 off 58 with three boundaries, while Manjeet Shrestha made 21 off 13 with three boundaries and a six.

Sanjam Regmi also picked up two wickets for Blue. Earlier, Budhayer smashed 54 off 58 with six boundaries and two sixes to help Blue pile up a challenging total. Another opener Bhupendra Thapa (27) and skipper Binod Bhandari (21) also contributed valuable runs. Avinash Karn picked up two wickets for Orange.

In Kirtipur, Shakti Gauchan-led Grey were bundled out for just 68 in 38.2 overs after Sagar Pun picked up three wickets with Rupesh Srivastav and Kumar Thapa also taking two wickets apiece. Gauchan was the lone fighter for Grey making 32 off 72 that included five boundaries. Openers Anil Mandal (29) and Roshan Nepali (15) gave decent start to lead Paras Khadka-led Red to 72-4 in 18.5 overs. Irshad Ahmed picked up three wickets for Grey.