Kathmandu, May 5

Capital College and Research Centre (CCRC), Heartland College and Sudur Paschimanchal Academy (SPA) advanced to the semi-finals of the Expert College Premier League Cricket Tournament here at the TU Stadium on Thursday.

CCRC thrashed Saipal Academy by 10 wickets, while Heartland edged past Golden Gate College  by 19 runs and SPA registered a seven-run victory over Triton.

In the first match of the day which was reduced to nine overs, Saipal scored 60-3 in nine overs before CCRC raced to 63-0 in 6.3 overs. Man-of-the-match Anil Mandal top scored for CCRC with an unbeaten 27 off 23 balls that included four fours, while Sunil Dhamala struck three fours and a six in his 16-ball 25 not out. For Saipal, Ishan Pandey top scored with 27 off 21 balls, while other batsmen failed to reach double-figure mark. Bikram Sob, Prem Tamang and Basant Regmi claimed a wicket each for CCRC.

In another quarter-final match, Heartland made 129-8 in 20 overs before they restricted Golden Gate to 110 runs in 19.1 overs. Subhendu Pandey top scored for Heartland with 26 off 18 balls, while Pradeep Airee and Bipin Chandra scored 19 runs each. Aarif Sheikh claimed three wickets, while Sushil Kandel and Paras Khadka grabbed two wickets each for Golden Gate. In reply, Golden Gate made a mediocre start but failed to continue the momentum till the end. Som Pal Kami top scored for Golden Gate with 42 off 38 balls, while Kushal Bhurtel made run-a-ball 16. Aashish Pokhrel and man-of-the-match Bhuwan Karki claimed three wickets each, while Pradeep Airee took two for Heartland.

In the last quarter-final match, SPA made 144-6 in 20 overs after they elected to bat first. Rain interrupted play in the second innings. Chasing a revised target of 114 runs in 15 overs under Parabola system,  Triton managed 106-6 in 15 overs.

Sandeep Sunar top scored for SPA with 65 off just 43 balls with five fours and three sixes, while Raju Rijal made 22 off 21 deliveries. Rupesh Shrivastav and Manjeet Shrestha claimed two wickets each for Triton.

Antim Thapa top scored for Triton with 37 off 14 balls with the help of a boundary and four sixes, while Amit Shrestha scored 21 off 26 balls with two fours. Binod Lama claimed three wickets, while Santosh Bhatt and Rahul Singh grabbed two each for SPA.