Nepal will vie against Sri Lanka Police on Thursday and Sri Lanka combined XI of First Class players on Friday. Photo courtesy: CAN
Visiting Nepal registered a second win in a row over Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club defeating the home team by 82 runs in a practice match played at the Navy Ground in Welisara, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday.
Dipendra Singh Airee put up an all-round show for Nepal scoring highest 65 runs and claiming two wickets.
Put into bat first, Nepal were bowled out for a moderate score of 197 runs in 41.4 overs in the 50-over game played to fine tune the visiting team's preparation for the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 triangular series.
In bowling, pacer Pawan Sarraf grabbed four wickets as Nepal bowled out the home team for 115 runs in 30.5 overs. On Monday, Nepal had defeated the same opponents by 111 runs.
Like in the first match, Nepali openers again made a poor start to their innings and were restricted to 4-32 at a moment. Openers Kushal Bhurtel was out for three runs while Gyanendra Malla for one run. Rohit Kumar Paudel, who came to bat at number three added only eight runs and Binod Bhandari departed for two runs.
In-form Airee contributed 65 runs off 79 deliveries that included five fences and a six. Bhim Sharki contributed 42-ball 30. Bivek Kumar Yadav (26), Pawan Sarraf (22) captain Sandeep Lamichhane (not out 14) were the other players to score in double digit figures.
Navy Sports bowler S Dakshina claimed three wickets while Coomarasamy and B Madushan pocketed two wickets each.
In the run chase, Navy Sports K Nuwantha scored 34 off 49 while D Gurusingha contributed 41-ball 24. S Coomarasamy (18), P Dias (14) and B Madushan (11) were other major scorers for the home team.
Off spinner Saffar grabbed four wickets in his five-over spell giving away 26 runs. Airee grabbed two wickets in his seven-over bowling. He conceded nine runs with three maiden overs.
Nepal will vie against Sri Lanka Police on Thursday and Sri Lanka combined XI of First Class players on Friday before flying to compete in the United Arab Emirates series of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 involving the hosts and Papua New Guinea to take place from March 15 to 22.
