WORLD CUP REMAINS DREAM

KATHMANDU, May 30 - Nepal put up a dismal batting performance to bow out of the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 tournament with a 37-run semifinal loss at the hands of Afghanistan at the Grainville ground in Jersey on Friday. After the bowlers bowled brilliantly to restrict Afghanistan to 142 in 49.3 overs, Nepali batsmen batted miserably to end Nepal’s remote chances of qualifying for the 2011 World Cup. Afghanistan, which had also dumped Nepal out of the inaugural T20 Asia Cup held in Kuwait in October last year, and the other finalist Jersey will now join Hong Kong, Fiji, Tanzania and Italy in the six-nation ICC WCL Division 4 to be held at the Tanzanian capital of Dar Es Salaam from 4 to 11 October to pursue their World Cup dreams. Allrounder Mehboob Alam topscored with 17 off 37 coming in at No 7 but the damage was already done at the top with opening bowler Dawlat Ahmadzai taking three wickets to reduce Nepal to 55/6. It all started with the second ball dismissal of opener Paresh Lohani (0 off 2) followed by the wicket of No 3 Sharad Vesawkar (3 off as Nepal wobbled to 12/2 in 3.5 overs. Opener Mahesh Chhetri (9 off 66) and Shakti Gauchan (9 off 57) then batted painstakingly slow adding just 25 runs in 91 balls to allow the Afghan bowlers to take control of the match. Gyanendra Malla (11 off 34), skipper Binod Das (12 off 32) and Basanta Regmi (10 off 16) were the only other batsmen apart from Alam to reach double figures as Paras Khadka (1 off 9), Sanjam Regmi (5* off 13) and Raj Kumar Pradhan failed to provide the impetus. Gul Abed, Hamid Hassan and Nabi Eisakhil took two wickets each for the winning side. Earlier, M Nabi Eisakhil scored 48 runs off 64 balls to guide Afghanistan to the total after Nepali bowlers took stranglehold of the Afghan innings. Left arm spinners Shakti Gauchan and Basanta snared three wickets but the brakes were put on by the new ball pair of skipper Binod Das and Mehbob Alam. Das took 2/22 in eight overs while Alam got 1/13 in eight to reduce Afghanistan to 29/3 after it was 26 for no loss after electing to bat. Shakti then continued to suffocate the Afghans giving away just 12 in eight overs while Basanta helped himself with late wickets to return figures of 3/30 in 8.3 overs as Afghanistan was bowled out in 49.3 overs. Leg spinner Raj Kumar Pradhan took 1/30 in eight overs. Afghanistan Vs Nepal 1-Innings Match Played At Grainville, 30-May-2008, ICC WCL Division 5 Afghanistan Win by 37 runs Toss won by Afghanistan Umpires BD Papworth (Scotland) & T Magee (Ireland) Scorers D Livingston Comment ICC World Cricket League Jersey 2008 - Semi Final Afghanistan 1st Innings 142/10 All Out (Overs 49.3) Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Min Bls 4s 6s Karim Khan+ b BK Das 18 42 30 1 0 Ahmad Shah Ahmadi b BK Das 10 53 39 0 0 Noor Ali lbw b M Alam 0 3 1 0 0 Nowroz Mangal* c M Alam b SP Gauchan 7 36 37 0 0 Asghar Stanikzai c P Khadka b B Regmi 18 77 55 1 0 Mohammad Nabi c S Regmi b RK Pradhan 48 81 64 3 1 Raees Ahmadzai c G Malla b SP Gauchan 22 45 46 0 1 Samiullah Shenwari st MK Chhetri b B Regmi 11 23 19 0 0 Hasti Gul c B Regmi b SP Gauchan 1 7 4 0 0 Dawlat Ahmadzai not out 1 6 2 0 0 Hamid Hassan b B Regmi 0 1 1 0 0 extras (b1 lb2 w2 nb1) 6 TOTAL 10 wickets for 142 FOW 1-26(Karim Khan) 2-29(Noor Ali) 3-29(Ahmad Shah Ahmadi) 4-40(Nowroz Mangal) 5-83(Asghar Stanikzai) 6-119(Mohammad Nabi) 7-135(Raees Ahmadzai) 8-140(Hasti Gul) 9-142(Samiullah Shenwari) 10-142(Hamid Hassan) Bowler O M R W wd nb M Alam 8 2 13 1 - - BK Das 8 3 22 2 - 1 SP Gauchan 8 3 12 3 - - P Khadka 7 1 19 0 1 - B Regmi 8.3 0 30 3 1 - RK Pradhan 8 0 30 1 - - S Regmi 2 0 13 0 - - Nepal 1st Innings 105/10 All Out (Overs 45.5) Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Min Bls 4s 6s PP Lohani b Dawlat Ahmadzai 0 2 2 0 0 MK Chhetri+ c Asghar Stanikzai b Hamid Hassan 9 84 66 1 0 S Vesawkar lbw b Hasti Gul 3 19 8 0 0 SP Gauchan c Asghar Stanikzai b Dawlat Ahmadzai 9 94 57 0 0 G Malla c Mohammad Nabi b Dawlat Ahmadzai 11 38 34 0 1 P Khadka b Hamid Hassan 1 14 9 0 0 M Alam c Samiullah Shenwar b Mohammad Nabi 17 48 37 1 0 B Regmi b Mohammad Nabi 10 16 16 2 0 BK Das* c Raees Ahmadzai b Hasti Gul 12 39 32 0 1 S Regmi not out 5 18 13 0 0 RK Pradhan st Karim Khan b Ahmad Shah Ahmadi 1 6 6 0 0 extras (b4 lb3 w15 nb5) 27 TOTAL 10 wickets for 105 FOW 1-0(PP Lohani) 2-12(S Vesawkar) 3-37(MK Chhetri) 4-50(SP Gauchan) 5-51(G Malla) 6-55(P Khadka) 7-72(B Regmi) 8-97(M Alam) 9-103(BK Das) 10-105(RK Pradhan) Bowler O M R W wd nb Dawlat Ahmadzai 10 3 18 3 6 - Hasti Gul 6 2 13 2 5 3 Asghar Stanikzai 2 0 6 0 - - Ahmad Shah Ahmadi 1.5 0 4 1 - - Hamid Hassan 10 6 12 2 1 2 Karim Khan 10 4 30 0 1 - Mohammad Nabi 6 0 15 2 - -