Nepal's easy win against minnows

Against Guernsey, Nepal were at one stage in the mire at 65 for 5 against some excellent Guernsey bowling. They were rescued by a partnership of 103 between Sarad Veswakar and Mehboob Alam, the latter providing the impetus with 45 off 59 balls with Veswakar making 72 from 139 balls.

Guernsey were well aware of the potency of Nepal’s seam attack and Alam struck immediately with the wicket of Mark Jefferies with one of his big inswingers. The wickets of Smit, Oliver and Ravenscroft followed quickly and Guernsey were soon four down with only 40 on the board.

Skipper Stuart Le Prevost with a hard fought 41 and Jeremy Frith with 24 steadied the ship and were rebuilding nicely before the injured Frith, batting with a runner, was run out. Le Prevost kept going and appeared unlucky to be given leg before. With his dismissal the home side’s chances were fading and Rajkumar Pradhan’s legbreaks wrapped things up with 4 for 36.

The match was a very useful exercise for both teams. Guernsey competed very well and the real difference between the two sides was the sheer quality of Nepal’s seam attack which could be too much for most of their opponents in Jersey.

Nepal knew that they had been tested by a decent Guernsey side seeking to demonstrate that it would not be out of its depth at WCL Division 5 level. The massive gulf between these two teams and the Bahamas suggests that the Bahamas will struggle in Jersey and that Nepal will be strongly fancied to reach the final. Bahamas lost to Guernsey too.