Chasing 181 to win, a task that was inflated by the 44 runs Nepal added in the last four overs this morning, Bangladesh was 123-7 off 41 overs.

Wassel Uddin Ahmed is 36 not out and Ashiqur Rahman has an unbeaten five.

A chaotic piece of running may have turned the game towards Nepal, when wicket-keeper Manoj Katuwal ran in a ball from short square leg to demolish the stumps and dismiss Shariful Alam for 22. He and Wassel had added 47 for the sixth wicket to bring Bangladesh back from 59-5.

Two overs after Shariful went, with the score at 113, a diving catch by Binod Das at midwicket removed Ali Arman for three off the bowling of Bardan Chalise.

Earlier, straight after the first break, new batsman Hasibul Hoq, the Bangladesh wicket keeper, was run out by a direct hit from extra cover by Das for a duck.

This was whilst two of Nepal’s spinners, Shakti Gauchan and Basant Regmi, were bowling spells of eight overs for 14 and 18 respectively to tie up the Bangladeshi batsmen.

Gauchan, Muralitharan-like in action, and Regmi, more of a twirler, gave way to Bardan Chalise and Lakpa Lama; a pair of slow left armers.

Shariful and Wassel nudged the singles to initiate Bangladesh’s best partnership of what may become a very tight match.

Lama dropped a long hop from Chalise at square leg when Wassel was on eleven. As the right-hander opened up he was dropped again, this time from a more difficult chance on the long on boundary.

The Nepalese commitment in the field resulted in several throws at the stumps that resulted in overthrows.

The hundred came up off 203 balls in two hours, with 81 needed in the final 16 overs of the innings.

Early drizzle was cleared by the southerly winds and the sun came out by the middle of the day.

Bangaldesh, chasing 181 to win, is 57-4 at the 18.4 over first drinks break. Shariful Alam is five not out and Hasibul Hoq is about to come to the wicket.

When play resumed in light drizzle this morning, Nepal’s Basudev Thapa and Manjit Shrestha added 44 off the five overs remaining from yesterday’s gale-disrupted play. Nepal closed on 180-6 off their 50 overs.

The sixth wicket pair both made their highest scores of the tournament. Thapa made 41 not out off 52 balls and Shrestha 27 off 24 balls.

Bangladesh reached 28 before three wickets fell in eleven deliveries between the seventh and ninth overs.

Bangladesh’s Aftab Ahmed Chowdhury went for five, with the score at 29, caught at short cover by Shakti Gauchan off the bowling of Nepal medium-pacer Binod Das.

Gazi Salauddin, after impressing with four boundaries in his 29, was caught off a skyer from the bowling of Shrestha by Gauchan running back from cover with the score at 32.

Mohammad Ashraful fell for a duck playing back to an inswinger from Das in the Nepalese captain’s next over.

The drinks break was taken when Bangladeshi captain Nafis Iqbal drove at Sanjam Regmi’s off spin, to be caught behind by the wicket-keeper, Manoj Katuwal.

A small crowd of Nepalese fans cheered every run, being especially thrilled when Chalise hit the second boundary of the innings, a cover driven four taken off the fifth ball of the 22nd over.

The damp outfield, despite the strong southerly wind which had allowed play to resume at 5.30pm, prevented more than seven boundaries being hit in the 45 overs play possible.

Bangladesh used their three faster bowlers for the first 24 overs, with right-armer Ashiqur Rahman taking one for 22 from ten overs.

When Prem Chaudhary on drove Wassel Uddin for his second boundary the sleepy evening was again woken up by the lively Nepalese following.

However, two blows that put paid to Nepal’s chance of making their target of 200. Following a 44-run fourth wicket stand Chaudhary, on 25, was caught by Nafees Iqbal three deliveries later, to make the score 81-1 after 30.2 overs.

Nepalese no.3 Bardan Chalise, who had anchored the innings with 27 off 89 balls, was out three overs later, lbw pulling at one from Ali Arman that kept low.

The hundred came up off 234 balls, with the second fifty taking 124 as Binod Das and Basudev Thapa rebuilt the innings.

Das opened up to hit Mohammad Ashraful’s slow left arm over midwicket, but fell cutting to backward point immediately after.

Right-hander Thapa and Manjit Shresthra ran well to add a further dozen before the close at 8.00pm.

Five overs remain to be bowled in the innings tomorrow.

The best weather of the day arrived at 5.30pm when Nepal restarted its innings at 7-1 after 3.1 overs.

The score had reached 52-3 after 18 overs, when the first drinks break was taken.

Nepal’s only fifty-scorer in the tournament, Bardan Chalise, was unbeaten on eleven, and Prem Chaudhary had eight not out.

Opener Kanishka Chaugai may have been lbw in left-armer SK Rassel’s fourth over, but umpire Dave Quested called a no ball.

In Rassel’s fifth Chaugai had another life when Aftab Ahmed Chowdhury dropped a waist high edge at first slip.

The score was 26-1 after ten overs. However, Chaugai attempted to flick one from Rassel, and was bowled, head up, playing across the line.

New batsman Shakti Gauchan also fell to Rassel’s inswing, failing to chop down on one that came back in Rassel’s next over.

With Ashiqur Rahman’s fourth ball Yashwant Subedi was trapped lbw on the crease for a duck.

Subedi had been Nepal’s second-top run scorer in the competition, behind vice-captain Bardan Chalise, who replaced him at the wicket as the strong southerly wind blew players caps across the pitch at regular intervals.

That gale blew in more rain after just 15 minutes play with the score 7-1 in 3.1 overs.

Kanishka Chaugai is four not out and Chalise one not out.

After the showers blasted over Lincoln 3, near Christchurch, play was scheduled to restart at 5.30pm.

The game will conclude tomorrow when Bangladesh will begin its innings.

Stormy weather from the south prevented the covers being lifted until almost 3pm, but strong winds have dried the ground, which is in good condition for play.

Nepal won the toss and will bat.

Play is likely to go on to 8.00pm and if conditions allow.

Teams:

Bangladesh: Ali Arman, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed Chowdhury, Hasibul Hoq, Shariful Alam, Nafees Iqbal, Wassel Uddin, Shafaq al Zabir, Gazi Salauddin, Ashiqur Rahman, SK Rasel. 12th man, Murad Khan.

Nepal: Kanishka Chaugai, Prem Chaudhary, Bardan Chalise (captain), Binod Das, Lakpha Lama, Manoj Katuwal, Sanjam Regmi, Manjit Shrestha, Yashwant Subedi, Busudev Thapa, Prasad Gauchan. 12th man, Basanta Regmi.

The backdrop of the Southern Alps, to the west of Canterbury, told the story. They were covered in snow.

Not surprisingly, temperatures were very cool at Lincoln 3 but with the rain stopping around 11am, the strong southerly wind at least offered some drying for an outfield that has held up remarkably well given the rain that has fallen in the last 24 hours.

An early lunch has been taken at the tournament at 12.30pm. There is no likelihood of an abandonment until very late in the day, and if play does get underway, and is later stopped, it can, under the tournament conditions, be continued tomorrow.

Weather forecasts predicted there would be a clearance from rain by afternoon, but at the same time they did not forecast the storm-like conditions that have occurred.

Bangladesh is set to play Nepal in the second semi-final to to decide who will play Zimbabwe in Friday's final of the Plate Championship.