Police ascend to top with first win of Jay Trophy

By A Staff Reporters,Kathmandu, Jan. 10: Nepal Police Club registered the first win of the Jay Trophy defeating the host Madhes Province by an inning and 35 runs in Narayani Cricket Ground, Birgunj, on Thursday. Regarding the Bagmati Province vs Tribhuvan Army Club game in Janakpur, the match was drawn.

Bundling Madhes at 94 runs in the second inning while the host was trailing by 129 runs, NPC did not have to bat the second time. Kushal Bhurtel, the highest scorer for NPC in the two-day game, took a fifer in his 4.2-over spell and destroyed Madhes’ batting order.

Gulshan Kumar Jha, who took a fifer in the first inning, ended the game with three wickets in the second inning; Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi also bagged two.

After Madhes posted 129 in the first inning, NPC responded well. Police, after batting for 59 overs, declared at 258/4. Aarif Sheikh and Shankar Rana stayed not out for NPC at 40 off 81 and 31 off 33 respectively.

Lalit gave Madhes a big blow in the very first delivery of the second inning as he caught and bowled skipper and opener Harishankar Sah for a golden duck. After that, wickets of Madhes kept on falling.

On the other hand, Bagmati stood their ground against Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) and earned crucial points. Army batted in the second inning with a lead of 76 runs; they declared with a second-inning score of 127/8 in 28.2 overs. 

Pratish GC’s three wickets in four overs followed by a four-wicket haul of Nandan Yadav in the second inning helped Bagmati prevent TAC from scoring like in the first inning; TAC scored 276/5 in 60 overs in the first inning. 

Bagmati responded with a score of 200/9 in 50 overs when TAC used only four bowlers – Sompal Kami (2 wickets), Aakash Chand (3), Shahab Alam (2) and Pawan Karki (2).

Army would have won if they bundled out Bagmati in their second inning with the bat, but things didn’t go their way.

After the end of four games, NPC stands at the top with 40 points and is followed by TAC (30 points), Bagmati (28 points) and Madhes (21 points).

The elite tournament will see Madhes facing Army in Birgunj and Bagmati facing Police in Janakpur in the third and final round of the league on January 11-12.