Bowlers lit up day six of Prime Minister Cup in Lamahi; last four spots finalised

Two five-fers in a day lit up the Prime Minister Cup in Lamahi on Thursday (December 31) as the round-robin stage of the Prime Minister Cup came to an end. Armed Police Force and Lumbini Province qualify for the semifinals from one group while Province Number 1 and Sudur Province were the other two to fill the last four spots.



Kabita Joshi took four wickets in an over including a hat-trick to single-handedly destroy Bagmati Province as Sudur Paschim Province won by 28 runs in a match that was reduced to 11 overs.



Chasing 77 for victory, Bagmati lost Kanchan Shrestha in the second ball of the innings. Suman Khatiwada, who played and bagged the player of the match in their last encounter for her allround performance tried to steady the ship with her 27-run knock but wickets kept falling at the other end as Bagmati slowly losing their way.



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The actual mayhem came in the ninth over, when Joshi had Khatiwada clean bowled in the second ball of the over before dismissing Anisha Majakoti and Kyanuka Basnet in the next two balls to complete her hat-trick. She then dismissed Khusi Dangol in the final ball of the over to cap in a memorable spell. Joshi finished with 2-0-10-5.



Earlier, an unbeaten 28 from Dolly Bhatta and Kabita Kunwar’s 19 helped Sudur Paschim Province to 76 for 4 in 11 overs. Aarati Bidari’s 3/13 did create some problems for the Sudur Paschim Province but Bhatta and Kunwar steadied the ship with their useful knocks.



In the other match of the day, Sangita Rai (5/3) and Sabnam Rai (4/3) combined for nine wickets as Gandaki Province were bowled out for just seven runs. This was also the lowest team total of the tournament – the earlier lowest being 22 for 9 made by Karnali Province.



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Chasing 148 for victory, Gandaki were 2 for 6 at one stage as both the Rais ran through the opposition batting order mercilessly. Such was the misery for Gandaki, that none of their top eight batters could open their account.



Earlier, Kajal Shrestha (52 not out) and Roma Thapa (51 not out) both scored unbeaten half-centuries to steer Province Number 1 to 147 for 1 in 20 overs. While Shrestha’s 57-ball knock was laced with four boundaries, Thapa was a bit fast taking 49 deliveries with eight hits to the fence.



Brief scores:



Province Number 1: 147/1 in 20 overs (Kajal Shrestha 52*, Roma Thapa 51*) beat Gandaki Province 7 all out in 8 overs (Sangita Rai 5/3, Sabnam Rai 4/3) by 140 runs.



Sudur Paschim Province: 76/4 in 11 overs (Dolly Bhatta 28*) beat Bagmati Province 48/9 in 11 overs (Suman Khatiwada 27; Kabita Joshi 5/10) by 28 runs.