Kathmandu, Feb. 16: Taking over the responsibility of the head coach on February 6, Monty Desai led the team for the first time in a tri-series of League 2 (2019-23) against Namibia and Scotland at the TU International Cricket Ground. Defeating Namibia in the first match of the series on February 14, 2023, Nepal won all six matches and whitewashed the tournament.

Desai’s team, since then, had been unbeaten in home ODIs. The streak of Nepal under Desai ended after 13 matches at Kirtipur bastion as it lost to Namibia by four wickets in the inaugural match of the second edition of CWC League 2 (2024-27) on Thursday. 

It is, however, Nepal’s 15-match winning streak at TU Cricket Ground that was put on a brake by the African nation. 

Before Desai’s arrival, Nepal played a bilateral series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in November 2022 at Kirtipur. The Rhinos lost the first match to the UAE then and won two consecutive matches to claim the series 2-1. 

With the 3-0 whitewash over Canada in the recent bilateral series, Nepal extended its run to 15 ODIs along with two List A internationals. It is the fourth-longest home winning streak in men’s ODIs. 

The confidence of Nepal in the home ground after a recent series clean sweep against Canada was destroyed by the Richelieu Eagles as they bundled out Nepal to their lowest-ever ODI total at Kirtipur and chased it with much ease.

The defeat was a wakeup call for Nepal according to skipper Rohit Paudel. He conceded that batters did not deliver as per expectation. “We have a decent bowling but failed in the batting department. The top-order batters disappointed us with their impatience today. The opponent bowlers perfectly utilized the tricky pitch condition. Our batters were unable to read the pitch and bat accordingly. We will be amending our mistakes in the next match.”

Winning the toss, Namibia’s captain Gerhard Erasmus elected to field first. Sending opener Kushal Bhurtel back to the dugout in the very first ball, Namibia declared that it was there with proper preparations.

Keeping the slips in place and bowling the first ball of the inning, Bhurtel was caught for an edge in the delivery by Ruben Trumpelmann while trying to drive the ball towards the off-side. 

Before the first powerplay ended, Nepal had lost its top-four batsmen. Trumplemann took his second wicket of the match in the 3rd over as Anil Kumar Sah was struck leg before. 

Showing his quality in the U19 team, Namibia called Jack Brassell to wear the senior team jersey and debut against Nepal. He took two major wickets for the Eagles as Aasif Sheikh (4 off 11) and captain Rohit Kumar Paudel (1 off 13) became his victims. 

From 21/4 in 9.3 overs, Bhim Sharki and Kushal Malla started a steady partnership, but it broke in the 20th over. Malla (15 off 22) departed after getting caught by Tangeni Lungameni in the ball of the Namibian skipper. 

Erasmus, who was adjudged the player of the match, went on to take his career-best five-wicket haul and restrict Nepal to 132 runs in 41.1 overs. Moreover, Erasmus implemented different plans on the field to claim the wickets of Nepali batsmen. 

Erasmus, who bowled several deliveries from behind the stumps, was able to bamboozle Nepali batsmen on multiple occasions. Sompal Kami (2 off 6), Bhim Sharki (44 off 86), Gulshan Jha (21 off 31) and Karan KC (16 off 38) were the other wickets for Erasmus.

Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton also opened his account as Pawan Sarraf (12 off 22) was caught by Erasmus in the 36th over. Meanwhile, in his three-over spell, Loftie-Eaton bowled two maiden overs and gave only five runs.

Doing his job with the ball when sought for, Loftie-Eaton hammered Namibia to the win with the bat. Namibia was able to chase the target in 33.1 overs losing six wickets.

Loftie-Eaton, who fell as the sixth wicket, departed adding 31 off 30 runs with five fours. He entered when Namibia was at 84/5 and departed leaving the team at 126/6.

Jan Frylinck (34 off 53) was Namibia’s highest scorer. Opening duo Michael van Lingen and Nikolaas Davin added 23 and 15 runs respectively. JJ Smit (17 off 35) was the only other Namibian batsman to score in double figures.

While Nepal used seven bowlers to defend the target, Sompal Kami bagged three wickets in his seven-over spell while Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Rohit claimed two and one wickets respectively.

With Nepal facing the Netherlands on Saturday, the second match with the Eagles will take place on February 21.