Nepalese community cricket club Sagarmatha claims historic premiership in NMCA D Grade

Melbourne’s Nepalese community is celebrating what is being hailed a historic cricket premiership after Sagarmatha claimed the North Metro Cricket Association D Grade flag in just its second season.

Sagarmatha Cricket Club celebrates its D-Grade premiership.

History was made in North Metro Cricket Association cricket on Sunday when Nepalese club Sagarmatha secured its maiden premiership.

The Nepalese community club only entered the league in 2017-18 but took the competition by storm this year to finish second and then defeat minor premiers Ivanhoe Mavericks by five wickets in the D Grade Kemp Shield decider.

It’s believed it’s the first premiership ever won by a purely Nepalese club in Australian cricket.

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Opening batsman Asim Suvedi said it was a proud moment for the players and the community.

“Up until 2016 we were playing community games, just short format, then with the influx of a lot of good players coming in from overseas we thought we could form a cricket team and play proper cricket and we got into North Metro.

“Council was trying to write us off, they were like ‘you’re just a community club, we’re not giving you the grounds’. We hard to fight really hard to get the ground.

“It’s a great win and probably the first time a purely Nepalese club has won an Australian-based tournament.

“It’s a great thing for the community as well, everybody in the Nepalese community really happy because this could be the start of something.”

Sagarmatha won the toss and sent Ivanhoe Mavericks in on Saturday at Ford Park South with the home team all out 231.

Prashant Kumar top-scored with 63 for Mavericks while Kushal Tuladhar was the main destroyer for Sagarmatha taking 6-41.

After a shaky start Deepen Rayamajhi (57) and Aashish GC (60) came together in a match-winning performance to guide their team home in 64 overs.

“They made 231, which is a really good score in a final, when we (batted) on Sunday, we just chipped away, everybody contributed,” Suvedi said.

With the win Sagarmatha won promotion and Suvedi said the club had high ambitions.

“This year we’re planning to get C and C Reserve teams running,” he said.

“We’re going to step up. It’s not just for us - it’s more for the community - our community has a lot of great players.

“We want to go up and up and get to A Grade in a couple of years.”