The Prime Minister’s Cup Women’s National Cricket Tournament commenced on Saturday at Lamahi Ground, in the Dang district of Nepal. It is the first major women’s cricket tournament organised by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) after the global pandemic hit the nation.
The tournament which comprises of eight teams, the seven provincial and a department team, the Armed Police Police (APF) have been divided into two pools with each team playing three matches in the group, during the league stage. The top two teams from each group will play crossover semi-final with the winners facing each other in the final.
The tournament is funded by the National Sports’ Council and is being played in a T20 format. The PM cup will see two matches on a daily basis and will run for nine straight days with the only rest day being before the final.
First Day Match Summary
On its inaugural day, the department team APF, also the defending champions, recorded one of the greatest domestic victories beating Karnali Province by 204 runs in the tournament. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, APF scored a mammoth total of 235 for the loss of four wickets in their allotted overs.
Opener Jyoti Pandey partnered a 97 runs opening stand with skipper Sita Rana Magar before getting caught for 32 from Nisha Parajuli’s bowling. Sita Rana Magar scored the first half-century for the tournament and recorded another 99 run-stand for the second wicket with Sarita Magar. Sita finished with 68 off 59 balls that included eight boundaries. Sarita Magar remained not out for 44 from 33 while Indu Barma struck 22 off 12 balls. In an innings where 67 runs came off extras, not a single six got hit during the full session.
Chasing the target of 236 runs, Karnali province were all out for 31 after Nepal’s ace spinner Karuna Bhandari produced a magical spell of 3.1-2-2-5. None of the batters from Karnali reached double-digits losing the match by massive 204 runs. Along Karuna’s five wicket haul, Rajamati picked 2 for 6 while Sonu Khadka and Rekha Rawal scalped one each for the APF side. Skipper Sita Rana Magar was awarded Player of the Match. Scorecard
Earlier, in the first match, Lumbini Province defeated Province Two by nine wickets. Province Two, losing the toss and being invited to bat first, scored 77/7 in 20 overs. Their opener Anuradha Chaudhary scored 21 off 41 while Sana Prabin collected 21 off 48 in the middle orders. Bimala Magar was the only other batter to reach double figures. On the bowling side, Sushmita Bhusal scalped three wickets for just ten runs while Swastika, Nary and Gita picked one each for the side. Chasing a low total of 77, Lumbini reached the target losing just the one wicket, with 23 balls to spare. Opening batter Saraswati scored 22 off 42 while Gita Goshai remained not out with 23 off 44 along skipper Nary Thapa who remained unbeaten for 15 off 13 balls. Sushmita Bhusal received the Player of the Match award for her individual performance of 3-10. Scorecard
Fixtures:
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