Oman trounce Nepal after Kaleemullah's four-for, Canada thwart UAE to go to 2-0

Tall medium-pacer Kaleemullah used his height and bounce to claim 4 for 28, setting up a six-wicket win for Oman over Nepal at Wanderers Affies Field.

Oman chose to bowl first under heavy cloud cover. On a sluggish second-day wicket, Oman's medium pacers exploited the conditions expertly. At the forefront was Kaleemullah, who probed a fifth-stump line and had his first two wickets - Gyanendra Malla and Aarif Sheikh - caught behind. A bigger blow came at the start of the 23rd over when he claimed Paras Khadka after an inside edge ricocheted off the pads into the base of the stumps.

Six batsman reached double figures for Nepal but none went past Sharad Vesawkar's 22, Nepal's top-scorer for the second day in a row. Vesawkar added 36 with Dipendra Airee, before Airee edged Khawar Ali's legspin to slip for 20. Vesawkar fell seven overs later, beaten for pace attempting to pull Bilal Khan. Kaleemullah returned later to help wipe out the tail, having Rohit Paudel caught on the boundary for 14 at the start of the 44th over. A yorker from Bilal to Sandeep Lamichhane finished the innings in 46 overs.

For the second successive day, Aqib Ilyas top-scored with 46 but this time it was in a winning effort. Ilyas neutralized the threat of Lamichhane after he gave Oman a brief scare when he struck in the 11th over, getting Jatinder Singh with a googly for 26. After Ilyas was drawn out of his crease to be stumped by Basant Regmi, Vaibhav Wategaonkar steered the rest of the chase, finishing unbeaten on 37.

Canada 209 (Nitish 62, Pathirana 36, Mustafa 5-34) beat United Arab Emirates 186 (shabber 55, Ashfaq 42, Nitish 2-11, Dutta 2-21) by 23 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

In a showdown of offspinning-allrounder captains, Nitish Kumar's 62 and back-to-back wickets late in the chase trumped Rohan Mustafa's 5 for 34 and an unbeaten 37 as Canada staved off UAE by 23 runs in a tense chase at Wanderers Sports Club.

Mustafa struck with his first ball, coming on in the fourth over to bowl Ruvindu Gunasekera for 21. Nitish led a fightback through a 64-run third-wicket partnership with Dhanuka Pathirana and brought up his half-century off 75 balls before eventually falling to medium-pacer Mohammad Naveed at the beginning of the 41st over. Mustafa then came back to complete his five-for, holding Canada to 209.

Mustafa opened the chase but retired hurt in the fourth over on 6 before Ghulam Shabber joined Ashfaq Ahmed to carry on an 88-run opening stand. The drinks break at the 18-over mark brought Canada back to life as offspinner Nikhil Dutta struck in the 19th over to get Ashfaq for 42, sparking a collapse of three wickets in six balls as Gunasekera claimed two in the next over with his part-time legspin.

Shabber went on to top-score with 55 before he was the fifth batsman out, to Dillon Heyliger. Mustafa returned with 80 runs left to win and with storm clouds lurking, UAE were still a handful of runs ahead on Duckworth-Lewis but Nitish's consecutive strikes in the 43rd over put Canada in front on the calculation for good.

Needing 27 off 36 balls and with only the No. 11 Zahoor Khan left to help, Mustafa began turning down singles before taking one on the third ball of the 45th over. Cecil Pervez beat Zahoor on the final ball of the over with a yorker and his lbw appeal was upheld, triggering emotional celebrations from Canada who are now the only remaining unbeaten team in the tournament field.