Gulf Daily News - 5/6/2006

BAHRAIN have an uphill struggle if they are to stay in the eight-nation Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-15 Cup Elite Division after Nepal scored 169 for nine on the first day of the two-day semi-final match yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In reply, Bahrain were struggling at 65 for six by the close.

Winning the toss, Nepal's openers Sagar Pun and Subandu Pandey (14) put on 32 for the first wicket before the latter was dismissed off the bowling of Divyesh Nambiar.

Aakash Pariyar was soon to follow caught by Sankarsh off Salman Shaikh and skipper Prithu Bonskota was then clean bowled by Divyesh for seven runs.

Nepal's best batsman was Pradeep Airee (50) while the rest were restricted to single figure totals.

Bahrain contributed to the Nepal total by giving away 30 extras.

Bowlers

The pick of Bahrain's bowlers were Salman Shaikh (five for 34) from 11 overs while David Mathias and Divyesh took two wickets each.

Bahrain's opening pair of Divyesh Nambiar and Samuel Viegas opened and put 12 runs on the board before the latter was caught by Bonskota off Krishna Karki for seven.

Sameer Zulfikar was the next in the pavilion after being stumped without scoring. He was followed by Karan Singh (10 from 41 deliveries).

Skipper David Mathias arrived at the crease but saw Rahul Ramchandran and Sahil Parkash dismissed. He and Anant Bahl played cautiously thereafter as Bahrain closed the day at 65 for six in 38 overs.

Today, Bahrain has its work cut out if it wants to stay in this competition.

David along with Anant, Salman, Cyrus and Sankarsh will have to score 105 runs off 22 overs to get the valuable first innings lead. This will mean scoring at about five runs an over, a tall order as the innings average so far has been just under two.

Brief scores (semi-finals/first day)

At Club Aman: Nepal 169 for 9 in 53 overs (Pradeep Airie 50no, Sagar Pun 48; Salman Shaikh 5-34, Divyesh Nambiar 2-17, David Mathias 2-65) Bahrain 65 for 6 in 38 overs (David Mathias 26no, Divyesh Nambiar 10, Karan Singh 10).

At Royal Selangor Club: UAE 132 for 9 in 60 overs (Vignesh Rajan 50no, Abiq Malik 26; Abilash Raaj 3-34, Ahmad Zahid 2-12) Malaysia 92 for 7 in 40 overs G Keithan 33).

Plate (semi-finals)

At Royal Military College: Hong Kong 126 all out in 49.4 overs (Zuaid Khan 62; Jawad Rahmani 2-29) Afghanistan 190 for 5 in 46 overs (Zard Ali 96no, Ziaul Haq 47, Habibullah 21).

At Kilat Aman: Kuwait 129 all out in 59 overs Imran Idress 23, Syed Abdul Munaf 20; G Rezza 5-33) Kuwait 64 for 3 in 32.5 overs (D Prasheen 28).