KATHMANDU. Kapilvastu District has won the national championship defeating Bara District by six wickets in the final of the Jai Trophy.

Parsa elected to bat but after losing non-striker Rajiv Shrestha in a run out at 0 they never looked like going for a good score. The uncertain bounce created by a withering and spotty pitch helped Basant Shahi (10-4-18-4), Basant Regmi (7-3-11-3) and Vijay Yadav (3.4-0-11-2) to end up Parsa's inning at 79.

Only two Parsa batsmen reached double figures - Jay Prakash Sarraf hit two fours and six sixes for his 33 while no 11 Bishal Gupta made 17 off 15 balls.

Kapilvastu played cautiously to reach the target in 17 overs losing only 4 wickets. The opener Sanju Thapa (20) took the score to 51 and Raju Khadka showed his usual aggression playing shots all around. He scored an unbeaten 25 off 14 balls with four fours and a six to finish the match for them. Binay Tripathi made 13. Bishal Gupta took 2 wickets for 8 runs off 4 overs while Nawab Ali and Rajiv Shrestha took one each.

Kapilvastu's delighted captain Basbat Shahi was awarded man of the match.

The match played for third place was a lot more thrilling and interesting than the final. Morang defeated Bara by three wickets. Bara's captain, Pawan Agrawal, elected to bat and scored 189 in 49.3 overs.

Agrawal showed confident batting for the first time in the tournament and scored 63 off 85 balls hitting 8 boundaries. Pawan's innings was well supported by veteran Sushil Chaugai (45) and Jitendra Yadav (29).

Morang's Sarbajit Pandey (4/33) was in top form while Yunil Shrestha(2/37) helped him.

Sarbajit's real contribution came in batting. Bara made it 100 for 7 and was looking good to win but the unbeaten partnership of 90 for 8th wicket of Sarbajit and his brother Manohar deprive of Bara of the win. The hard return catch of Sarbajit of the bowling of Rupesh Upreti was the bad luck for Bara. Sarbajit made 32 of 25 balls and Manohar made 25 off 18 balls.

Yunil Shrestha's 58 was a beautiful innings for foundation. Bara's Binod Das, Rupesh Upreti, Abhaya Poudel, Sanjam Regmi and Shushil all took one wicket.

The Semifinals

Kapilvastu made 207 in the first semifinal against Bara. Man of the match Basant Regmi put on a brilliant 71 and added 61 runs for the first wicket with Sanju (21) and 43 for the second with Binay (20).

Rupesh (3/42), Pawan (2/39) and Binod (2/28) couldn't restrict the batsmen.

Bara's poor batting performance continued as they were eliminated for 95. Only Jitendra (20), Sameer Thakur (13) and Binod (19) reached double figure with no 11 Abhaya (14).

Kapilvastu's Mohan Thapa (3/23) and Basant Shahi (4/24) were the chief destroyers.

In other semifinal, Parsa defeated Morang by 16 runs in an enthralling show. Parsa scored 216 runs for 7 electing to bat first. Thanks to valuable innings from captain Musraf Izhar (50), Kalamuddin Ansari (33), Jay Prakash Sarraf (32), Prakash Sharma (23) and Nasir Khan (21*).

Only Rajkumar (2/28) and Santosh Rathi (2/35) bowled with some pride.

To give a close end Morang made 200 but defeated mainly by the dedication and willingness of Parsa. Anish Aryal made half century and was helped by Rajkumar's 37.

The player of the series award went to Jay Prakash Sarraf for his alround display. Rajkumar Pradhan was awarded the best bowler and Paresh Lohani was selected as the best batsman.

The Controversies

"The pitch wins the final." - Nepal's Pakistani Coach Aftab Baluch wasn't happy with the organisers - "The pitch wasn't playable. It wasn't properly prepared."

"The bowlers without much worth took wickets," he told me. "These types of matches wouldn't help anyway for the cricket." The goundsman told the organisers it was impossible to prepare the pitch amid everyday's match. The organisers eagar to end up the tournament decided the match played on the unmade pitch. "The pitch could have been maintained during the breaks of the matches," Baluch said.

The players of Mahotari District even broke the glasses of the CAN office after a controversial walk out in a league match. Mahotari needing 20 runs in 14 balls refused to send its players showing a bad mark on the pitch. The spike of a bowler had blown off a part of it. The umpire Binay Jha later said me that it was not the fault of the bowler neither of the umpire. This had happened in the first ball he bowled.

The co-ordinator of the tournament TB Shah took away two hours of play time to maintain it but the play wasn't possible after. The CAN officials were dumbfounded about the decision they should take. Mahotari played after that and in last of its league match they lost. Immediately after the CAN announced the controversial match in favor of the Morang.

No disciplinary act has been taken till now.

The other controversy aroused when rain washed matches was replayed. Baluch insisted on seeing the players play so the 2 matches were replayed. But a lot of people thought it was against the rule.

Other League Matches

· Chitwan (134/9) defeated Dhanusa (117) by 17 runs. MOM Kush Gurung (25 runs and 6/29)
· Parsa (233/7) defeated Dhanusa (146) by 93 runs. MOM Jay Prakash Sarraf (68 runs and 4/37)
· Morang (272) defeated Saptari (140) by 132 runs. MOM Navin Ghimire (64 runs)
· Siraha (37) lost to Saptari (38/1) by 9 wickets. MOM Mahaboob Alam (7/21)
· Siraha (220) won against Mahotari (180) by 40 runs. MOM Laxmi Sahani (4/22)
· Morang (198) defeated Siraha (91) by 107 runs. MOM Rajkumar Pradhan (11 runs and 5.3-4-7-4)
· Mahotari (168) won againsti Saptari (133) by 35 runs. MOM Roshan Thakur (50 runs)

Retirement and Honor

The first captain of Nepal's National team Uttam Karmacharya retired from cricket after his team Dhanusa was relegated. Karmacharya led Nepal in the first ACC tournament in Malaysia. The well built 'keeper/batsman played 16 out of 17 national championship.

à The U-17 hero of Nepal Munik Shrestha was hounoured for his brilliant display in Bangladesh. He was also selected for the close camp of the ICC trophy although he didn't play the national championship.

Although CAN gave Munik a standing ovation, he didn't even try to remember the first captain Karmacharya. His name was not mentioned in the closing ceromony. The long serving player deserved a good hounour.

ICC Trophy selection The 25 players selected for the close camp are Pawan Agrawal, Sanjam Regmi, Binod Das, Basant Regmi, Raju Khadka, Rajiv Shrestha, Jay Prakash Sarraf, Paras Luniya, Navin Ghimire, Rajkumar Pradhan, Sandeep SHrestha, Paresh Lohani, Birendra Bikram Shah, Minik Shrestha, Kush Gurung, Sabip Poudel, Manoj Katuwal, Durga Sen, Kiran Agrawal, Amir Aktar, Dipendra Chaudhary, Maheboob Alam, Pramesh Gurung, Irfan Siddique and Ganesh Shahi.

(with help from Binod Pandey)

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd