Eagles taste first defeat

After an impressive winning streak at the underway Pepsi-ICC Cricket League division 2, Namibia’s Eagles tasted their first defeat at the clutches of Nepal On Wednesday, were the hosts lost by three wickets with 73 balls remaining. The team was bowled out for 142, before Nepal easily surpassed them and scored 146 for seven at a match held at the United Sports ground. Nepal won the toss and opted to field, which proved to be a good decision as it bowled out Namibia’s top order relatively cheaply. Stephan Baard (9) and Merwe Erasmus (14) both hit the shower early, before Raymond Van Schoor scored 28 to try to lead Namibia to a respectable score.

The Nepalese bowlers took advantage of bowling first as KC Karan took three wickets for 12 runs and Shakti Prasad Gauchan took two wickets for 22 runs. There were some late runs put on by Jean-Pierre Kotze (27), Nicolaas Scholtz (16) and Sarel Burger (15) to leave Namibia on 142 all out in 49.1 overs. In the reverse play, Namibia took two early wickets before Gyanendra Malla (31) and captain Paras Khadka once again was in the runs with 64 not out including six fours and three sixes. There were some late wickets taken with Gerrie Snyman (3-23) and Craig Williams (2-29) still battling for Namibia, but it wasn’t enough as Nepal ran out winners by three wickets. Elsewhere, the fight for the top two positions continued as Kenya faced Netherlands at Wanderers. After losing an early wicket, Kenya put on a 75-run second-wicket partnership between Irfan Karim (43) and Narendra Patel (48, three fours, two sixes). Nehemiah Odhiambo had a late surge with the bat scoring 36 runs not out including four fours and one six, the Kenyans finishing on 212 for nine. Ashan Malik was the pick of the Dutch bowlers with figures of 3 wickets for 27 runs. Netherlands’ top order was clinical in its chase of victory with player of the match Stephan Myburgh scoring 95 runs including 11 fours and three sixes. Ben Cooper (35) and Michael Rippon (20) chased the runs down, before captain Peter Borren (28) not out, including three fours and two sixes) hit the winning runs in style; winning by five wickets. In the other match of the day, Canada hit a big total at Wanderers Affies with the first century of the tournament coming from Nitish Kumar in Canada’s 111-run win over Uganda. Player of the match Kumar hit 104 runs from 106 balls including ten fours and one six, to put the Canadians in control achieving 293 runs for six wickets in its 50 overs. Captain Amarbir Hansra (63 not out, including five fours, three sixes) and opener Rizwan Cheema (36) both contributed building the total to 293 for six from its 50 overs. It was a big total for Uganda to reach and even with Phillemon Mukobe’s 70 including eight fours and one six the total always looked beyond Uganda with wickets falling. Roger Mukasa (24) and Jonathan Sebanja (22) also contributed, but Cecil Pervez (4-23) and Nikhil Dutta (4-52) led the Canadians to victory by 111 runs.