Lamichhane, Basant help Nepal pull off one-wicket heist

Nepal 139 for 9 (Vesawkar 29, Basant 24*, Scholtz 4-11, Williams 3-32) beat Namibia 138 (Williams 41, Lamichhane 4-18, Kami 3-35) by one wicket
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Sandeep Lamichhane followed a four-wicket haul with a thrilling 18-run stand for the last wicket with Basant Regmi to take Nepal past the WCL Division Two hosts Namibia with four balls to spare.

A loss loomed for Nepal when thunderstorms stopped the chase at 111 for 8 after 43 overs with the visitors 11 runs behind the DLS par score. Heavy rain continued for 30 minutes but because Nepal had bowled out Namibia in 34.2 overs, there was plenty of time to spare before the official cutoff of 5:45pm. Once the rain stopped, it only took another 35 minutes for the field to dry adequately for play to resume.

Namibia took a step closer to victory when Sompal Kami was beaten for pace on a drive to give Craig Williams his third wicket and put the hosts one away from victory. It was part of a terrific all-round day for Williams who had top-scored with 41 off 34 balls in the first innings and later took a stunning one-handed diving catch at slip to remove Sharad Vesawkar for 29.

But Lamichhane kept calm while Basant chanced his hand at the other end. With 15 needed off nine balls, Basant charged at Sarel Burger's medium-pace and drove him over long-off for six. Lamichhane later turned down a single off the final ball of the 49th over to give Basant control of the final over with seven required. A two was followed by a four behind point to level the scores before Jan Frylinck speared a wide down leg to finish the game.

Earlier, Lamichhane had sparked a middle-order collapse with the wicket of Williams as Namibia went from 80 for 3 to 81 for 6. After spinning out the tail, Nepal had to bat just under an hour before lunch, moving to 32 for 2. Captain Paras Khadka fell for 19 to spark the interval. Left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz continued to make inroads into the batting line-up with 4 for 11 before Vesawkar and Basant helped secure a famous Nepal win.

Canada 108 for 2 (Kumar 53*, Gunasekera 46) beat Oman 106 (Ilyas 46, Dutta 3-11, Dhindsa 2-19) by eight wickets
Scorecard

Canada's medium-pacers vindicated captain Nitish Kumar's decision to bowl first by ripping through the Oman line-up for 106 to set up an eight-wicket win at United Cricket Field. The manner in which they completed the chase, knocking off the target in just 15.4 overs, put Canada at +4.774 on the net run rate tiebreaker, which could prove vital by the final day of the round-robin event.

Canada's fielding was unrelenting from the start, with the tone set by Kumar in the second over when he ran back 25 yards from slip to claim a sensational diving catch off a skied drive by Swapnil Khadye. Disciplined opening spells from Cecil Pervez and Satsimranjit Dhindsa kept the pressure on and by the end of the Powerplay, Oman was reeling at 35 for 4.

Canada's medium-pace trio, including Dillon Heyliger, attacked the stumps regularly. Following Kumar's catch, the next five wickets were either lbw or caught behind the wicket. Aqib Ilyas did his best to counterattack, swatting an audacious hooked six after charging Heyliger. But three balls later, he slashed an edge to fall for 46, leaving Oman at 60 for 5.

Nikhil Dutta then entered and proceeded to wipe out the tail in quick time. He was on a hat-trick at one point when Zeeshan Maqsood drove to long-off before Jay Odedra was bowled through the gate first ball. Dutta had Kaleemullah holing out to long-on to wrap up the innings in 27.4 overs. He was ultimately named Man of the Match for his 3 for 11 in 3.4 overs.

Ruvindu Gunasekera got Canada's chase off to a fiery start, clubbing Odedra's offspin flat over long-on for a pair of sixes before smoking the medium-pace of Bilal Khan and Fiazz Butt for a six each over midwicket. He chipped a catch to cover off Zeeshan Maqsood's offspin to fall four short of a half-century but Kumar carried his team home. The Canada captain unfurled a glorious reverse-pull for six off Khawar Ali in the 14th over before sealing the chase two overs later with a straight driven four. In the process, he brought up his own fifty off 41 balls.

UAE 309 for 8 (Mustafa 73, Ashfaq 73, Odhiambo 2-33) beat Kenya 91 (Patel 17, Zahoor 2-10, Raza 2-18) by 218 runs
Scorecard

A trio of half-centuries from captain Rohan Mustafa, fellow opening batsman Ashfaq Ahmed and Rameez Shahzad helped UAE vault past Kenya by a whopping 218 runs at Wanderers Sports Club. Mustafa and Ashfaq added 133 for the first wicket - a partnership that was well in excess of Kenya's total.

After the strong platform laid by the openers, Shahzad combined with Muhammad Usman (46* off 38 balls) to put on 83 for the sixth wicket, taking UAE past 300. Shahzad then fell at the start of the final over to spark a flurry of late wickets. Nelson Odhiambo bowled well at the death to claim 2 for 33 but by that stage UAE were in control of the game.

Mohammad Naveed struck twice with the new ball, claiming Dhiren Gondaria and Nehemiah Odhiambo, to reduce Kenya to 9 for 2 and they never recovered. The left-right spin tandem of Ahmed Raza and Mustafa took two wickets each to run through the middle order before medium pacer Zahoor Khan blasted out the tail. Kenya were eventually dismissed for 91 in just 32.4 overs.

The sizable margin of victory has given UAE a net run rate of 4.360. Canada, however, have a superior net run rate of 4.774.