Nepal and USA claim second victories

Hosts Nepal continued their strong start to the tournament as they produced an impressive bowling display to defend 180 against Singapore at the Engineering Campus Ground in Lalitpur. Bastana Regmi was the home team's hero as he followed his 54 with 2 for 33, while Sanjam Regmi did major damage as he claimed 4 for 28. Bastana's innings hauled Nepal from the difficulty of 74 for 5 to a defendable target, then Sanjam claimed two early wickets as Singapore began their chase. Singapore found scoring tough and hovered around three an over as Nepal kept themselves in the game even when not breaking through. Bastana chipped in with his brace as Singapore floundered on 97 for 5 which soon became 119 for 7. However, Anish Param was holding the chase together before falling to Shakti Gauchan with 36 still needed. The ninth-wicket pair eked out 19 precious runs to increase the tension, but Sanjam claimed the final two wickets in four balls to give Nepal victory.

Jersey bounced back from yesterday's loss to the USA by beating Fiji by nine wickets in Kirtipur. Fiji's failure to bat out their overs - they were shot out in the 37th over - meant Jersey were always on top of the game and they needed just 20.3 overs to chase a target of 123. Jersey's new-ball pair of Ryan Driver and Matt Hague did the early damage, reducing Fiji to 51 for 4. A lack of sizeable partnerships hurt Fiji, for whom three batsmen reached 25 but failed to press on. A fifty-run stand for the fifth wicket between Tikovanualevu Kida and Iniasi Cakacaka was the best of the innings, but once it was snapped Ben Stevens in the 26th over Fiji proceeded to lose the remainder of their wickets for 21 runs. Stevens was parsimonious with figures of 2 for 11 from eight overs. Jersey then cantered home with Hague and Dean Morrison putting on a century opening stand. Morrison was the only wicket to fall, for a 55-ball 52, while Hague remained unbeaten on 52.

USA overcame a spirited chase by Bahrain to make it two wins from two as Lennox Cush produced a fine all-round performance in Bhaktapur to secure a 19-run win. Cush hit 91 from 90 balls as USA amassed a challenging 273 for 6, but Bahrain made a decent fist of hunting down the target. Imran Sajjad led the reply with a powerful 75 and alongside Abdul Majeed (47) set a solid platform, but the middle order stuttered after Cush removed Sajjad. Orlando Baker also played a key role with two economical wickets and the task became too great despite Adil Hanif's 46. Cush had earlier formed the backbone of USA's innings, adding 140 for the third wicket with captain Steve Massiah who made 67 and Cush powered 11 fours and two sixes during his innings.