Half-Centuries galore in Jay Trophy's second round

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 9: While the first two games of the Jay Trophy ended with the dominance of bowlers, the batting order was in relief when the four teams returned to action for their respective second game on Wednesday. 

Janakpur and Birgunj, two venues for the tournament, saw four individual half-centuries when Army faced Bagmati and Police fought against Madhes respectively. The two venues had two half-centuries each. 

Winning the toss and electing to field, Bagmati invited Army to bat first in Janakpur. However, Bagmati could not capitalise on their decision to bowl first.

Army’s opening duo – Imran Sheikh and Trit Raj Das – pressured Bagmati’s bowlers from the beginning. Moreover, the duo registered the first 100-run partnership in the tournament, that too for the first wicket.

Skipper Sandeep Lamichhane gave Bagmati their first relief when Das was struck leg-before in 23.2 overs. By then, Army’s openers had taken the score to 103 runs. But Sheikh went over the half-century mark and departed as the second wicket in 34.6 overs leaving the team at 157 runs. Sheikh added 72 off 104 with the help of 11 fours.

In at five, Basir Ahmad, of Army was also on the list of half-centurions. Ahamd (53 off 64) stayed not out with Kushal Malla (35 off 43) to declare the first inning at 276/5 at the end of 60 overs.

Lamichhane bagged two wickets for Bagmati in his 22-over spell (giving 103 runs) while Bipin Achary responded with three wickets in his 13-over spell (giving 45 runs). None of the other four Bagmati bowlers – Pratish GC, Nandan Yadav, Surya Tamang and Rijan Dhakal – bowled for 10 overs.

However, at the end of Day 1, Bagmati could not do enough with the bat. Army bowled 22 overs in the second inning restricting Bagmati to 124/5; thus, Bagmati was trailing by 152 runs. Nandan and Bipin are at the crease at 18 off 21 and 1 off 5 respectively.

Aakash Chand bagged three wickets while Sompal Kami took two as Army prepared to come back stronger on Day 2 on Thursday.

On the other hand, Madhes vs Nepal Police saw the team batting first scoring low. Police had invited Madhes to bat first in Birgunj, but the host was bundled out at 129 runs in 42.4 overs. Mayan Yadav’s 59 off 102 was the only efficient knock for Madhes. Eight Madhes batsmen could not reach the double figures.

Gulshan Kumar Jha was the hero with the ball for Police as he took a fifer in the first inning. Kushal Bhurtel also bagged two while Sarwan Yadav and Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi claimed one each.

Bhurtel, who has not been effective with the bat, also returned to glory on Wednesday. Bhurtel was the final half-centurion of the day.

Bhurtel was having a good partnership with Dilip Nath for the first wicket; the duo was also nearing the 100-run partnership but Madhes’ Abhishekh Tiwari foiled the plan as Bhurtel was caught out in his spell in the 20th over. Departing for 63 off 68, Bhurtel departed as the first wicket leaving Police at 96 runs while training 129.

Nath could not reach his half-century as he was clean bowled by Harishankar Sah at 40 off 79. Gulshan departed as the third after adding 20 off 14 (three sixes) leaving Amit Shrestha (34 off 46) and Aarif Sheikh (13 off 33) at the crease when officials called for Stumps on Day one.

Posting 174/3 at 40 overs, Police led by 45 runs against Madhes.