Cricinfo staff

May 25, 2008

	Mahaboob Alam completes his ten-wicket haul © CricketEurope/ICC

Nepal’s left-arm seamer Mahaboob Alam produced an extraordinary performance in on the third day of the ICC World Cricket League Division 5, taking all ten wickets against Mozambique.

Alam was on a hat-trick three times in the course of his 7.5 overs, and finished off the innings with four wickets - three of them bowled - in six balls as Nepal blew away Mozambique for 19 as they secured a 219-run win. In a dismal batting display, nine of the Mozambique batsmen were dismissed for 0, with five bowled, four lbw and one caught by Mahesh Chhetri.

“I never thought I would get 10 wickets. I managed to get the ball starting to swing for me and then I thought I was in with a chance of getting wickets” said 26-year-old Alam. “Once I got my eighth wicket, I thought I could get all 10 in the match. I did think the bowler at the end may get one or two wickets as he was getting the ball to skid on but fortunately for me he couldn’t get a wicket. I am very happy.

“I really believe we have a chance in this event as everybody is performing. Our batting is coming good and we are in with a good chance of winning the tournament.”

Nepal’s captain Binod Kumar Das paid tribute to his bowler’s amazing performance and admitted he had played in a game with Alam before when he was on the verge of getting ten wickets only for Das himself to take wickets at the other end to dash the hopes of his colleague.

“I am absolutely thrilled to bits as a guy taking ten wickets doesn’t happen in cricket regularly and I’m absolutely delighted to be part of that as it was a remarkable performance by Mahaboob Alam. He deserves a lot of credit for that.”

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