Africa-Press – Namibia. NEPAL pipped Namibia to third place on the Cricket World Cup League 2 log after a dramatic nine-run victory against the UAE in Kirtipur on Thursday.
UAE scored a sizeable 310 runs for six wickets off their 50 overs, while Nepal replied with 269/6 off 44 overs when play was stopped due to poor light.
After the Duckworth Lewis Stern method was applied, Nepal were adjudged the winners by a mere nine runs, which sees them finishing third on the log on 40 points, while Namibia finished fourth on 39 points.
Nepal now join the tournament winners, Scotland (50 points) and second-placed Oman (44 points) at the final Cricket World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe at the end of June, while Namibia will now compete in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier playoff tournament in Windhoek from 26 March to 6 April.
Namibia will be joined by USA (35 points), UAE (33) and PNG (11), along with the Challenge League Group A and B winners, Canada and Jersey, at the Windhoek playoff tournament, where the top two teams will progress to the final World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe.
In yesterday’s match, UAE elected to bat first after winning the toss and despite losing Aryan Lakra early on for 6, captain Muhammad Waseem and Vriitya Aravind put them on track with a 79-run partnership.
Sandeep Lamichhane dismissed Waseem for 63 off 49 (2×4, 6×6), while C Rizwan (7) and Aayan Khan (3) were dismissed cheaply and when Rohan Mustafa was out for 20 they had reached 175/5 with 13 overs remaining.
Asif Khan however joined Aravind and swung the momentum back to UAE with a whirlwind knock.
Khan went on to reach his century, scoring 101 not out off only 42 balls (4×4, 11×6) while Aravind was dismissed for 94 off the last ball of the innings as UAE reached 310/6.
Dipendra Airee was Nepal’s best bowler, taking 2/19 off 8 overs.
In Nepal’s innings, Aasif Sheikh (0) and Kushal Malla (5) were dismissed early, but Kushal Bhurtel (50), Bhim Sharki (67) and Aarif Sheikh (52) kept them on track.
Gulsan Jha (50 not out) and Dipendra Airee (10 not out) added an unbeaten 44 run partnership for the seventh wicket to take the total to 269/6 off 44 overs when the match was stopped due to poor light. It however was just enough as they pipped the UAE to the post by 9 runs to book their ticket to Zimbabwe.
Junaid Siddique was UAE’s best bowler, taking 3/51 in 10 overs.
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