Nepal’s left-arm seamer Mahaboob Alam produced an extraordinary performance at the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 (WCL Div. 5) taking all 10 wickets against Mozambique.
Alam was on a hat-trick three times in the course of his 7.5 overs and finished off the innings with four wickets – three of them clean bowled – in six balls as Nepal crushed Mozambique by 219 runs.
In a dismal batting display, nine of the Mozambique batsmen were dismissed for 0, with five batters bowled, four lbw and one caught by Mahesh Chhetri.
“I never thought I would get 10 wickets. I managed to get the ball to swing for me and then I thought I was in with a chance of getting wickets,” said 26-year-old Alam.
“Once I got my eighth wicket, I thought I could get all 10 in the match. I did think the bowler at the end may get one or two wickets as he was getting the ball to skid on but fortunately for me he couldn’t get a wicket. I am very happy.
“I really believe we have a chance in this event as everybody is performing. Our batting is coming good and we are in with a good chance of winning the tournament.”
Nepal’s captain Binod Kumar Das paid tribute to his bowler’s amazing performance and admitted he had played in a game with Alam before when he was on the verge of getting 10 wickets only for Das himself to take wickets at the other end to dash the hopes of his colleague.
“I am absolutely thrilled to bits as a guy taking 10 wickets doesn’t happen in cricket regularly and I’m absolutely delighted to be part of that as it was a remarkable performance by Mahaboob Alam. He deserves a lot of credit for that,” said the skipper.
Mozambique was chasing a Nepalese total of 238-7, which represented a good recovery after it had been 30-3 at one stage, with Gyanendra Malla top scoring with 71.
Other tournament favourites Afghanistan, USA and Jersey also all secured victories as the tournament got back on track after Saturday’s rain.
Eighteen-year-old Gulbadin Naib was the hero for Afghanistan as he took 5-7, including a hat-trick to close the innings, as Bahamas made just 46 all out.
And although it suffered a batting collapse, Afghanistan secured victory by five wickets after 6.3 overs as it attempted to score quick runs to improve its run-rate with Mario Ford claiming 3-5.
“I was very happy to receive my man-of-the-match award for Afghanistan and I would like to pay tribute to my captain, team and coach who have helped me achieve this,” said Naib.
“It was the first ever hat-trick for Afghanistan so I am very happy,” he added. “I am sure my friends and family back at home will be very proud.”
Former West Indian batsman Clayton Lambert, coach of the USA team, hailed his side as it comprehensively beat Norway by 10 wickets but said that the players were not going to become over confident despite two comfortable wins.
“We’re not going to underestimate anybody. We’re the ones who have played a higher level of cricket so everyone expects us to win so there is a lot of pressure on,” said Lambert.
The US bowling attack looked extremely threatening with the wickets shared around its pace attack. Khawaja Shuja, the 19-year-old right-arm fast medium bowler, was the pick of the attack with figures of 5-15, although Steve Pitter (2-24) and Imran Awan (2-36) were also looking dangerous with some aggressive short pitched bowling.
“Some of the short balls were the right length for the wicket and the guys did a great job of putting the balls on a correct length,” said Lambert.
“Some balls bounced and Norway didn’t seem to have played against the bouncing balls a whole lot so it worked in our favour.”
In reply, the USA coasted to their target in just 14.5 overs with Sushil Nadkarni (41 not out) and Orlando Baker (32 not out) looking in fine form.
Matt Hague produced a captain’s performance for Jersey in its eight-wicket win over Japan taking 4-26 with the ball and scoring 27 not out with the bat.
He played his part in reducing Japan to 124-8 in 50 overs before helping Peter Gough, who made 59 not out, reach Jersey’s target with 15.5 overs to spare.
“It was a really good performance. After yesterday when we got off to such a good start batting we wanted to get in a game today and get a win on the board,” said Hague.
In the other game of the day, Singapore registered its first victory of the event with an exciting win by three wickets over Botswana.
Buddhika Oshanka made 79 as Singapore reached a target of 184 with 2.3 overs to spare.
SCORE SUMMARIES
Group A
At Farmers CC, USA won by 10 wickets
Norway 85 all out, 31.1 overs (Khawaja Shuja 5-15, Steve Pitter 2-24, Imran Awan 2-36)
USA 87-0, 14.5 overs (Sushil Nadkarni 41 not out, Orlando Baker 32 not out)
At Grainville, Nepal won by 219 runs
Nepal 238-7, 50 overs (Gyanendra Malla 77, Paras Khadka 44, Shakti Gauchan 34)
Mozambique 19 all out, 14.5 overs (Mahaboob Alam 10-12)
Group B
At Les Quennevais 1, Afghanistan won by five wickets
Bahamas 46 all out, 24 overs (Gulbadin Naib 5-7, Hamid Hassan 2-12, Dawlat Ahmadzai 2-14)
Afghanistan 49-5, 6.3 overs (Mario Ford 3-5)
At Les Quennevais 2, Jersey won by eight wickets
Japan 124-8, 50 overs (Gavin Beath 28, Munir Ahmad 27)
Jersey 125-2, 34.1 overs (Peter Gough 59 not out, Matt Hague 27 not out)
At FB Fields, Singapore won by three wickets
Botswana 183-9, 50 overs (Shah Zaib Khan 41, Anish Param 3-30)
Singapore 184-7, 47.3 overs (Buddhika Oshanka 79, Anish Param 66 not out)
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