Kathmandu, February 14
Nepal beat Canada in a last-ball thriller to book a place in ICC World Cup Qualifers, to be played in in Zimbabwe next month.
The hero of the match World Cricket League Division II encounter was Karan KC, who came in at number 10 to rescue Nepal from a big defeat. KC made 42 off 31 balls and remained unbeaten to see the side through.
Having won the toss, Nepal put Canada to bat first in the final match of the league stage of the tournament being played in Namibia. The North American side put up a challenging score of 194 runs in their allotted 50 overs with the loss of eight wickets. Canada’s opening batsman Wijeratne scored a century and remained unbeaten even as wickets tumbled. Nepal conceded 19 extras and that was likely to hurt the side.
Nepal’s response to the total was rocky from the start. Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla was made nine runs. His opening partner Dilip Nath made 41. Although wickets were falling at regular intervals Nepal managed to keep the run-rate in check. At one point in the game Nepal were 144-9, still needing 51 runs to win the match.
KC hit four towering sixes and four fours to ensure that Nepal finished the match in style.
Here are the final #WCL2 standings!
Nepal and UAE will contest the final and both progress to the @cricketworldcup qualifier ????
Canada and Namibia will battle for 3rd place ????
Oman and Kenya are relegated to #WCL3 and face off tomorrow for 5th place ???? pic.twitter.com/JHBgY8TV2P
— ICC (@ICC) February 14, 2018
With the loss Canada are out of the race and so are Namibia. Nepal and the UAE qualify for the qualifers. They now play each other in the final of the tournament on Thursday.
