Nepal claim upset victory over Pakistan

Nepal may be the location of the world's highest mountains but their Under-19 World Cup cricketers scaled the cricketing heights with a momentous upset victory in the ICC event in Christchurch today.

Nepal, who had given England a bit of stick in their opening game yesterday, beat Pakistan by 30 runs at Lincoln Green.

Batting first Nepal scored 151 in 48.5 overs. No 3 batsman and vice captain Bardan Chalise provided a handy innings of 42 off 87 balls to steer his towards a reasonable score. Good support was provided by Kanishka Chaugai (15), Manjit Shrestha (17) and Sanjam Regmi (16).

Junaid Zia was the pick of the Pakistan attack taking four for 34 from his 10 overs while Kamran Sajid took four for 35 off 7.5 overs.

At 84/3, Pakistan must have felt they were cruising toward a comfortable victory. But the dismissal of Khaqan Arsal for 24 when he was trapped leg before wicket by Sakthi Gauchan set in train a mini-collapse as Asim Munir and Amin-ur-Rehman fell with the score at 90.

And when Junaid went at 112, Pakistan were on the ropes and the Nepalese never let them off. Pakistan were all out for 121. Gauchan ended with three for 19 from his 10 overs, an outstanding effort while Regmi took three for 27 from 9.4 overs.