MCC followed a penultimate ball five-wicket victory in Kathmandu at the weekend with a penultimate ball five-wicket defeat in Pokhara on Monday.

In the second match of the Club’s tour of Nepal, Captain Neil Dexter won the toss and elected to bat.

With the sun beginning to burn away the Himalayan mist that had engulfed Pokhara CC early in the morning, MCC openers Storm Green and Ben Shepperson made their way to the middle with hopes of posting a sizeable total.

However both fell cheaply after struggling to acclimatize to a slow, dusty surface, and when Chris Lawlor was trapped lbw for three, MCC were struggling at 49-3.

Steve Clark and Mike Coles proceeded to wrestle back the initiative for the visitors, adding 89 for the fifth wicket.

Both fell shortly after passing 50 and some lusty late blows from Richard Wilkinson and MCC Young Cricketer Alex MacQueen took MCC to 203-5 from their 40 overs.

Somerset youngster Liam Redrup thought he had made the dream start to his tour, clean bowling Pokhara opener Suman Ghimire with the first ball of the innings, only for the umpire to call a no-ball.

Redrup got his man the next over, and a miserly opening spell from Alex Senneck meant Pokhara made slow progress in their pursuit of 204 to win – scoring just 27 off the first 10 overs.

However, opener Anil Gif began to settle at the crease and kept his side in the game with a patient 75. Middle order contributions from Shiv Subedi (28) and Bidhan Siha (23) helped to set up what became a grandstand finish.

With the hosts needing 15 off the final over, MCC still looked favorites but home captain Deepesh Khatri had other ideas, smashing two fours and a six off Redrup to seal a five-wicket victory for his side with a ball to spare.