Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club and Rising Cricket Women (RCW) set the title clash of the Attariya Cup Women’s Twenty20 cricket tournament on Monday.
APF hammered Kailali District Cricket Academy (KDCA) by 82 runs riding on a solid batting performance, while RCW edged Milan Cricket Club of Jhapa by nine runs. The final match will be played on Wednesday.
Electing to bat first, APF rode on gritty knocks from opener Jyoti Pandey and Karun Bhandari to reach 150-5 in 20 overs. KDCA, in reply, were shut out for just 68
runs in 19.2 overs after losing their last five wickets for nine runs.
KDCA never looked comfortable in their chase as opener Nitu Bhandari was the only batswoman to make runs in double figures with a 22-ball 17 that included only one boundary. Kabita Kunwar (eight) and Shova Rokaya (seven) were their other top scorers. Skipper Binu Budhamagar was the pick of the APF bowlers with 3-5 from 1.2 overs, while Sarita Magar and Sita Rana Magar had two scalps apiece.
Earlier, APF’s top order collection was built around Pandey, who scored 40 from 44 balls with seven hits to the fence. After the departure of Pandey in the 13th over, Bhandari displayed some power hitting, scoring 29-ball 42 with six fours and a six.
Player-of-the-match Budhamagar chipped 21 from 15 balls with three fours, while Mamata Chaudhary scored 15 not out from 13 balls. Kabita Kunwar took 3-23 from four overs for the losing side.
In another semi-final, RCW rode on an allround performance from their experienced Indian recruit Pooja Nimavat. She led RCW to 119-3 after they were put in to bat first. The Indian cricketer then returned with the ball to take 4-22 from four overs as Milan were all out for 110 in 20 overs.
Milan lost opener Kajol Shrestha (10) early in their chase but skipper Rubina Chhetri led a remarkable fightback with the bat, putting on 62 for the second wicket with Ritu Jain to take the team close to finishing line. However, RCW skipper Aarati Bidari removed both the set players in consecutive deliveries in the 13th over as Milan innings began to crumble.
No 6 batswoman Muskan Begam (15) was the only remaining Milan batswoman to score runs of note, while Chhetri top scored with a 41-ball 39 with four boundaries and a six. Jain score 21 from 35 balls with two fours. Apart from Nimavat, Nary Thapa also picked up three wickets for RCW.
Nimavat had given RCW an excellent start as she and Shahnabaz Parveen began with a 33-run partnership for the first wicket. RCW then lost Parveen for 17 and Thapa (one) in a space of eight runs before Nimavat and Bangladeshi Shampa Mukharjee consolidated their innings with 72 runs for the third wicket. Nimavat made 47 from 55 balls with three fours and Mukharjee scored 42 not out from 35 balls with six boundaries.
