Skipper Paras Khadka led from the front and Sharad Vesawkar once again played role of a finisher as Nepal edged Namibia by three wickets in the ICC World Cricket League Championship on Monday. 

Electing to field first, Namibia threw away a strong start but recovered to post a challenging 239-9 in 50 overs. Nepal didn’t have the best of the start as they lost openers Naresh Budhayer (six) and Gyanendra Malla (22) early in the game before a 167-run stand between Khadka and Vesawkar guided them to 240-7 in 49.5 overs but not before surviving a late scare.

Nepal scored only 33 runs in the first 11 overs with Gyanendra hitting the single boundary in his 46-ball innings. Khadka stepped in after the fall of Malla and got off the mark in style with a straight six off Zhivago Groenewald and followed it up with a boundary. Khadka turned the game in Nepal’s favour, scoring fluently keeping the asking rate under control. He completed his 50 off 45 balls and the Khadka-Vesawkar partnership flourished with Vesawkar beginning to cut loose. 

Vesawkar notched up his half century off 73 balls. Khadka completed his century in style lodging Gerrie Snyman straight down the ground for a six. The skipper, however, lost his wicket with the only bad shot of the day, trying to reverse sweep Groenewald for a boundary. Khadka’s 94-ball 103 included seven sixes and five fours. 

It was Paras’ maiden List A century following the feat of Anil Mandal who had made exactly 100 against Scotland during Nepal’s first round match away to the Scots 

in July. 

Nepal soon lost Rajesh Pulami Magar (one) before Binod Bhandari stepped in to ease the pressure hitting two boundaries. Bhandari (12) was bowled by Sarel Burger and by that time Nepal needed just 10 runs 21 balls.

Under pressure, Nepal scored just six runs from 46 to 49 overs that left them requiring six runs off the last six balls. Vesawkar held on to score three runs in the second ball of the last over before a single in the fifth balls had the job done. “It was an excitement for crowd but may be we were nervous. Maybe in our game plan, it didn’t work in our ending but as long as we win we will take it. Hope it doesn’t go so close next time,” said Khadka.  

Vesawkar, who was 50 not out from 99 balls in the five-wicket victory in the first match on Saturday, remained unbeaten on 74 from 107 balls with five boundaries. Sarel Burger took 3-38 for Namibia.

Earlier, openers Stephan Baard and Zane Green made the most of two dropped chances, both batsmen were dropped by Paras Khadka at slips off seamer Sompal Kami in the fifth and ninth over, giving a 95-run opening wicket stand. Baard made 51 off 60 with eight fours before losing his wicket to rookie leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane. Baard’s dismissal triggered a brief Namibian collapse as they lost five wickets for 19 runs, Green was one of them trapped leg before by Basanta Regmi for 47 off 87. 

Burger and Jean Pierre Kotze pushed Namibia towards a competitive total with some lusty hittings towards the end. Burger was unbeaten on 43 off 60 with three fours and two sixes, while Kotze scored 10-ball 32. Nicholaas Scholtz hit two sixes in his 17-ball 19.

Shakti Gauchan, Lamichhane and Basanta Regmi took two wickets each for Nepal. Khadka remained wicketless but was economical in his nine overs conceding just 20 runs. “We were outplayed in the first game but today we gave a good fight. Once again, our middle order let us down,” said Namibia skipper Baard.

standings

Teams              P    W    L    N/R    Pts    NRR

Netherlands    6    4    0    2    10    +1.647

Hong Kong     6    4    1    1    9    +1.604

Scotland         6    2    1    3    7    -0.587

Kenya             4    3    1    0    6    +0.661

Nepal              6    2    4    0    4    -0.141

PNG                4    2    2    0    4    -0.630

Namibia         6    1    5    0    2    -0.599

UAE                6    1    5    0    2    -1.377

Summary

Nepal 240-7 in 49.5 overs (P Kadka 103, S Vesawkar 74 not out; S Burger 3-38, Z Groenewald 2-48) beat Namibia 239-9 in 50 overs (S Baard 51, Z Green 47, S Burger 43 not out; S Gauchan 2-44, S Lamichhane 2-39, B Regmi 2-2-45) by three wickets