Nepal has suffered another defeat in the Cricket World Cup League 2 after its poor batting performance abroad continued. Nepal suffered an 8-wicket defeat to Namibia in Utrecht, Netherlands on Tuesday. 

Nepal, who came in to bat after losing the toss, was all out for just 157 runs in 46.5 overs. After half-centuries from Michael van Lingen and Jan Freylinck, Namibia scored 160 runs in 38 overs. 

This is Nepal's 11th defeat in 17 matches played abroad in League 2. Out of these, Nepal has won only 4 matches and 2 have been drawn. 3 of the 4 wins were against the Netherlands and Scotland during last year's tour of Scotland.

Nepal has also not been able to perform well at home. When Nepal came to Nepal in 2024, Namibia had won both the League 2 matches against Nepal. That is, Nepal has lost all 3 matches against Namibia in League 2. Nepal had won 7 out of 12 matches in the 3 series of League 2 at home. 

This has also weakened Nepal's hopes of directly qualifying for the World Cup qualifiers while remaining in the top four. Nepal is in fifth place in the eight-nation tournament with 24 points from 29 matches. The top four teams in League 2 are eligible to qualify directly for the World Cup qualifiers. 

The United States is in the top four with 43, Scotland 38, Netherlands 32, and Oman 31 points. Nepal, Namibia, and Canada are in fifth to seventh place respectively with 24 points. UAE is at the bottom with 14 points. 

Nepal, who reached the Netherlands with high hopes and played their first match, had a weak start. Kushal Bhurtel, who scored 2 runs on the first ball of the match, was bowled by left-arm fast bowler JJ Smit on the next ball. Smit also bowled Ishan Pandey for 8 runs. Opener Asif Sheikh scored 16 runs and was caught beautifully on the boundary line. 

Captain Rohit Poudel and vice-captain Dipendra Singh Airi shared a 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket. But after both of them were dismissed in short intervals, Nepal was all out cheaply. Rohit, who could not hit any boundaries, scored the highest 31 runs in 60 balls. Dipendra scored 30 runs in 51 balls with 2 fours. 

Dipendra was bowled by Bernard Scholtz. Two balls later, Scholtz dismissed Arif Sheikh LBW for naught. The rest of the game was in Schmidt's name. He took four wickets of the lower order to take his total to 6 wickets in the match. Schmidt took 6 wickets for 27 runs in 9.5 overs. Scholtz took 2 wickets for 22 runs in 10 overs.

The last four wickets taken by Schmidt were those of Sompal Kami, Gulshan Jha, Karan KC and Nandan Yadav. Sompal made 15 off 30 balls with a four, Gulshan made 20 off 38 balls with a four and a six, Karan made 18 off 15 balls with a four and a six and Nandan made 1 run. Sandeep Lamichhane remained unbeaten on 1 run. There were only 6 fours and 2 sixes in the Nepali innings.

In Namibia, Nandan had Alexander Busching Volsenck caught by wicketkeeper Asif for 2 runs. But that was only a momentary joy for Nepal. Lingen, who is returning to international cricket after 2 years after retiring,   Frylincks and the team gave the Nepali bowlers no chance and won.