Bhutan edge past Suriname in high tensed match

Tshering Dorji of Bhutan and Shazam Ramjohn of Suriname at the toss

Bhutan bounced back from its huge defeat to Vanuatu yesterday by beating Suriname in a tightly fought game that saw the South American side fall just 11 runs short of target.

Tshering Dorji's side made a decent total of 182 in its allotted 50 overs with Thinley Jamtsho's 39 and a hard-fought half-century from Manoj Adhikari. Suriname's quick fielding helped it keep Bhutan to just 182 and this was aided by poor running between the wickets by Bhutan - the Asian side's innings featuring four run-outs.


Bhutan opener Thinley Jamtsho takes charges early-on

Suriname fell just short of the target despite some strong batting from Bahma Prasad (51) and captain Shazam Ramjohn but struggled against the bowling of Phuntsho Wangdi, the right-arm slow bowler snaffling up 3-40 in his allotted overs.

It will be a relief for Bhutan to have claimed a win today but on Tuesday it will face the in-form Kuwait - a side Bhutan has only faced once before and that ended in a loss for the Bhutanese.

"Things went well for us today particularly in the fielding and catching department," said Dorji, "We held catches, kept things tight so when it came down to them trying to make the runs and meet the target they couldn't because we fielded so much better than yesterday."


Bhutan batsmen add runs on the board

"Our top order didn't do so well today when it came to batting but Manoj performed very well and the main thing ahead of Tuesday is that we need to keep things simple. We need to be consistent with our fielding and our batting.

"I think if we can set a good target here and our bowlers pitch it up a bit and get the ball to swing on the flat pitches, we could be in with a chance," he added.

Source - ICC, Photo courtesy of ICC