Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Netherlands consigned Nepal to its third defeat in the ICC World Cricket League 2, defeating the hosts by eight wickets at the TU International Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Invited to bat first after losing the toss, Nepal folded for just 172 runs despite a fighting half-century by Kushal Bhurtel in 49.3 overs. The Netherlands scored 173, losing two wickets with 73 balls to spare.
Although Nepali openers made a good start, adding 42 runs for the first wicket, the hosts lost wickets at regular intervals after opener Aasif Sheikh was caught by Bas de Leede off Vivian Kingma. He scored 17 runs off 27 balls. Anil Sah, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Bhim Sharki, and Gulshan all fell without reaching double digits. Karan KC and Aarif Sheikh scored 26 and 22 runs, respectively, while Captain Rohit Paudel scored 16 off 40 balls.
Vivian Kingma and Aryann Dutta took three wickets each, and de Leede claimed two wickets for the Netherlands. Roelof van der Merwe also had a wicket to his name.
The Netherlands opener made a brisk start in the chase, scoring 61 runs in just 8.3 overs. Although Nepal got the Dutch openers with 71 runs on the board, Vikramjit Singh scored an unbeaten 58 from 92 balls, and Sybrand Engelbrecht scored an unbeaten 46 runs to earn their side the second victory in the tri-series.
Nepal lost both its games against Namibia, while it lost one and won against the Netherlands.
Namibia leads the WCL 2 table after the Nepal tri-series, with six points from four games. The Netherlands is second with four points from as many games, while Nepal has two points from four games.
