Jersey stay alive with crushing win

Jersey 107-3 (Jenner 30) beat Nepal 105-8 (Lohani 27, Watkins 3-20) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Nepal's wretched tour of Ireland wrapped up in timid fashion on Saturday as Jersey easily beat them by seven wickets at Malahide. Another insipid batting display from Nepal, who were 2014 World T20 participants, after being sent in to bat left their bowlers a target of 106 that was far too few, which made them the first team eliminated from contention for the knockout stage in Group A.

On the other hand, Jersey can still reach the knockout stage with a win over Ireland on Sunday but will need help in the form of two Hong Kong losses and will also require Papua New Guinea to beat USA.

Nepal came into the match needing to not only win but do so by a massive margin to have any chance of keeping their playoff hopes alive. However, they lacked intensity throughout the majority of the morning. In the first 15 overs, they struck only two boundaries, both of which came off edges past Jersey keeper Ed Farley.

Left-arm spinner Nat Watkins removed both openers inside the Powerplay to leave Nepal at 19 for 2 after six. Binod Bhandari's dismissal summed up Nepal's struggles, as a waist high full toss was spliced to cover in the second over. Pradeep Airee fell for 2 off 13 balls edging a desperate drive to Ben Stevens at backward point in the fourth over.

Captain Paras Khadka's disappointing tournament concluded with just 48 runs in five innings as he managed to york himself against the left-arm spin of Ben Stevens for 11 to start the ninth over. Rajesh Pulami was done in by a slower ball from left-arm seamer Cornelis Bodenstein, which was patted back for a simple return catch.

Gyanendra Malla sliced a cut to short third man for 26 with one ball to go in the 15th over to give Watkins his third wicket and with nothing else seemingly working, Sharad Vesawkar tried a reverse sweep but was bowled behind his legs for 16 to make it 79 for 6.

Making his senior team debut, 20-year-old Siddhant Lohani was the only batsman who demonstrated any sort of vigour. He top-scored with 27 off 16 balls, including two sixes over midwicket and long off. Thanks to his late boost, Nepal managed 44 off the last five overs but it was never enough to make up for their lifeless start.

Lohani fell in the final over attempting to slog another off Anthony Kay, the first of two in the last over. Basant Regmi was the eighth man down, caught at midwicket mistiming a pull and Nepal finished on 105 for 8.

Shakti Gauchan struck in the second over to remove Farley for a duck, but Jersey cruised to the halfway stage at 61 for 1 behind a half-century stand engineered by captain Peter Gough and Jonty Jenner. A flick behind square was bracketed by two sweeps through the leg side by Gough in a 12-run eighth over to get Jersey on the move.

Momentum was briefly halted with a double-strike in the 11th as Khadka nabbed Gough spooning a drive to mid-on for 27 before Jenner ran himself out two balls later for 30 calling for a run to backward point. Lohani swooped in to field and throw in one motion, catching Jenner just short.

Bodenstein and Stevens took Jersey the rest of the way with an unbroken 44-run stand for the fourth wicket. Stevens finished 13 not out while Bodenstein ended unbeaten on 27, including the winning boundary hit over midwicket with 23 balls to spare.