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We have created few major upsets in the last three U-19 World cup winning big guns like Pakistan and Bangladesh (in 2002), South Africa (twice!!! in 2004 and 2006), and New Zealand (in 2006 plate championship final), now this time can we stun West Indies?
Nepal is playing West Indies in Final tomorrow Saturday, March 1 (10:00 am local time of Malaysia, 2:00 am GMT).
Team Members of Nepal are:
(Left to right): Paras Khadka (Captain), Rahul Kumar, Anil Mandal, Subash Pradhan, Sagar Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Antim Thapa, Puspa Thapa
Amrit Bhattarai, Abhaya Rana, Raj Shrestha, Chandra Sawad, Akash Gupta, Rom Shrestha, and Mahesh Chhetri (Wicket Keeper)
...and one person we can never forget for all that we have achieved until now and putting Nepal's cricket in world map
Sri Lankan coach Roy Luke Dias
Road to the Plate Championship Final U-19 World Cup 2008:
Nepal qualified to World cup beating spirited Afghanistan team in Asian Cup Final in 2007 by 48 runs. Nepal was placed in Group C with test playing nations Sri Lanka, Australia, and Namibia in group stage match. There were all together 16 nations (12 test playing nations and 4 nations qualified from the regional qualification) divided 4 in each group.
Game 1: Vs Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka posted the total of 236 in total of 50 overs losing their 9 wickets, while Nepal's batsmen failed to shine and got all out in playing 48.5 overs and only being able to accumulate the total of 175. So, Sri Lanka won by 61 runs.
click here to see the total score card for this match.
Game 2: Vs Australia
Australia U-19s with total of 206 (Hughes 46, Pascoe 37, Khadka 4-32, Shrestha 3-32) beat Nepal U-19s 110 all out (Vishwakarma 33, Rose 3-21, Pattinson 3-25, Smith 3-25) by 96 runs. Nepal's batting line up once again collapsed.
click here to see the score card for this match.
Game 3: Vs Namibia
In this nail biting match, a patient half-century from Mahesh Chhetri, some tidy medium-pace bowling and a whole lot of nerve from young Gyanendra Malla snatched Nepal a thrilling three-run victory. Defending a total of 164, Nepal had done well to chip away at Namibia's batting order but at 142 for 7 in the 42nd over it appeared they were running out of options. That is when left-arm medium-pacer Raj Shrestha dismissed top-scorer Louis van der Westhuizen for 65 and set into motion a tense next seven overs.
Taking a gamble on 17-year-old Gyanendra Malla, who had never bowled in his first-class career, Nepal's captain Paras Khadka got it spot on. In the 45th over Malla had Pikky Ya France edging behind, and then bowled Morne Engelbrecht for 7 with the last ball of the 49th over to finish a tense contest. Nepal's grip had been administered by a tight start with the ball, tightened through slow left-arm spinner Rahul Vishwakarma's economical 2 for 23 and finally it was Malla who stole the show.
Earlier Chhetri,Nepal's wicketkeeping-opener, played a lone hand in his side's total of 164 against a disciplined Namibian bowling attack, scoring precious 62 runs for which he was awarded man of the match.
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| Played at University Sains Malaysia, Penang (neutral venue), on 21 February 2008 (50-over match) Result Nepal Under-19s won by 3 runs |
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Nepal Under-19s innings (50 overs maximum) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
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MK Chhetri | c Steenkamp b Strauss |
62 | 133 | 4 | 0 | 46.61 | ||
| AK Mandal | b Strauss | 7 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 36.84 | |||
| G Malla | c Ya France b Engelbrecht | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| S Khadka | c & b van der Westhuizen | 7 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 15.21 | |||
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P Khadka | c Silver b Ya France | 12 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 60.00 | ||
| AK Gupta | c Botha b Silver | 21 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 80.76 | |||
| RK Vishvakarma | b van der Westhuizen | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 27.27 | |||
| Rom Shrestha | c Ya France b Engelbrecht | 26 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 96.29 | |||
| P Thapa | not out | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 40.00 | |||
| Raj Shrestha | run out (Steenkamp) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| A Bhattarai | run out (Strauss) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | |||
| Extras | (b 2, lb 9, w 12) | 23 | |||||||
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| Total | (all out; 49.5 overs; 172 mins) | 164 | (3.29 runs per over) | ||||||
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Bowling | O |
M | R | W | Econ | |
| M Engelbrecht | 9 |
0 | 28 | 2 | 3.11 | (4w) | |
| E Oosthuizen | 2 |
0 | 12 | 0 | 6.00 | (3w) | |
| KM Strauss | 9.5 | 2 | 37 | 2 | 3.76 | (1w) | |
| LP van der Westhuizen | 10 |
2 | 17 | 2 | 1.70 | ||
| BM Scholtz | 10 |
4 | 18 | 0 | 1.80 | (1w) | |
| HN Ya France | 5 |
0 | 23 | 1 | 4.60 | (1w) | |
| S Silver | 4 |
1 | 18 | 1 | 4.50 |
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Namibia Under-19s innings (target: 165 runs from 50 overs) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
| R van Schoor | lbw b Bhattarai | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| S Silver | st Chhetri b Vishvakarma |
41 | 81 | 4 | 0 | 50.61 | |||
| C Bouwer | run out (Thapa) | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10.00 | |||
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DH Botha | b P Khadka | 5 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 26.31 | ||
| LP van der Westhuizen | c Rom Shrestha b Raj Shrestha | 65 | 75 | 3 | 1 | 86.66 | |||
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E Steenkamp | c Raj Shrestha b P Khadka | 11 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 37.93 | ||
| KM Strauss | c S Khadka b Vishvakarma | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| HN Ya France | c Chhetri b Malla |
10 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 25.64 | |||
| M Engelbrecht | b Malla | 7 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 29.16 | |||
| E Oosthuizen | run out (Raj Shrestha) | 7 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 70.00 | |||
| BM Scholtz | not out | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 | |||
| Extras | (lb 5, w 7, nb 1) | 13 | |||||||
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| Total | (all out; 49 overs; 191 mins) | 161 | (3.28 runs per over) | ||||||
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Bowling | O |
M | R | W | Econ | |
| A Bhattarai | 8 |
1 | 21 | 1 | 2.62 | (1w) | |
| P Khadka | 10 |
2 | 30 | 2 | 3.00 | (3w) | |
| Raj Shrestha | 10 |
1 | 32 | 1 | 3.20 | ||
| S Khadka | 9 |
0 | 47 | 0 | 5.22 | (1nb, 1w) | |
| RK Vishvakarma | 10 |
2 | 23 | 2 | 2.30 | (2w) | |
| G Malla | 2 |
0 | 3 | 2 | 1.50 |
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| Toss Nepal Under-19s, who chose to bat first Player of the match MK Chhetri (Nepal Under-19s)  Nepal's players leave the field after their three-run win over Namibia |
However, this morale boosting win wasn't enough to take Nepal to the second round as we finished third from the group behind Australia and Sri Lanka. So, once again this world cup we played for the plate championship among the eliminiated teams in the first round.
Plate Championship Quarter-final: Vs Zimbabwe
Nepal were themselves staring down the barrel at 79 for 7, before being rescued by Paras Thapa, who blitzed a 49-ball 40 and added 53 runs with Shrestha (19). They were also aided by some wayward bowling by Zimbabwe, who conceded 40 extras.
But Zimbabwe bowed down infront of discipline Nepali bowling and sharp fielding and were bowled out for mere 59 . It is zimbabwe's second-successive defeat against Nepal in world cup.
Amrit Bhattarai and captain Paras Khadka, Nepal's opening bowlers, took three wickets each as Zimbabwe were reduced to 24 for 6. Tinashe Chimbambo (20) and Solomon Mire (16*) offered some resistance before left-arm seamer Raj Shrestha nailed the last three wickets.
Paras Khadka was adjudged 'man of the match' for his all round performance.
| Nepal Under-19s v Zimbabwe Under-19s |
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| Played at Institute Perguruan Temenggong Ibrahim, Johor (neutral venue), on 24 February 2008 (50-over match) Result Nepal Under-19s won by 99 runs |
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Nepal Under-19s innings (50 overs maximum) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
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MK Chhetri | c Masvaure b Jaure | 16 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 | ||
| AK Mandal | lbw b Masvaure | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 | |||
| G Malla | b Jarvis | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
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P Khadka | c Masvaure b Jaure | 20 | 35 | 1 | 1 | 57.14 | ||
| S Khadka | lbw b Matsika | 2 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 10.52 | |||
| AK Gupta | c Gaisford b Matsika | 9 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 60.00 | |||
| RK Vishvakarma | c Gaisford b Matsika | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| P Thapa | run out (Mire) | 40 | 48 | 3 | 1 | 83.33 | |||
| Raj Shrestha | c Masvaure b Jaure | 19 | 71 | 3 | 0 | 26.76 | |||
| A Rana | c Masvaure b Dinembira | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 | |||
| A Bhattarai | not out | 9 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 64.28 | |||
| Extras | (b 4, lb 7, w 28, nb 1) | 40 | |||||||
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| Total | (all out; 45.1 overs) | 158 | (3.49 runs per over) | ||||||
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Bowling | O |
M | R | W | Econ | |
| KM Jarvis | 10 |
2 | 30 | 1 | 3.00 | (1nb, 8w) | |
| P Masvaure | 9 |
1 | 28 | 1 | 3.11 | (3w) | |
| ES Jaure | 8.1 | 1 | 34 | 3 | 4.16 | (7w) | |
| S Matsika | 10 |
1 | 34 | 3 | 3.40 | (2w) | |
| T Chitongo | 7 |
0 | 15 | 0 | 2.14 | (2w) | |
| H Dinembira | 1 |
0 | 6 | 1 | 6.00 |
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Zimbabwe Under-19s innings (target: 159 runs from 50 overs) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
| H Dinembira | c Chhetri b Bhattarai |
1 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 5.88 | |||
| T Mashonganyika | c Malla b P Khadka | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| PJ Moor | c Chhetri b Bhattarai |
4 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 36.36 | |||
| T Chitongo | c Chhetri b P Khadka |
1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12.50 | |||
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P Masvaure | lbw b P Khadka | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
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T Chimbambo | st Chhetri b Vishvakarma |
20 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 58.82 | ||
| JWM Gaisford | lbw b Bhattarai | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | |||
| SF Mire | not out | 16 | 50 | 1 | 0 | 32.00 | |||
| ES Jaure | lbw b Raj Shrestha | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| S Matsika | b Raj Shrestha | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 9.09 | |||
| KM Jarvis | st Chhetri b Raj Shrestha |
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| Extras | (lb 5, w 8) | 13 | |||||||
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| Total | (all out; 27.2 overs; 111 mins) | 59 | (2.15 runs per over) | ||||||
....contd: below