Nepal to host ACC U-17 Elite Cup and Other good news

THE KATHMANDU POST, 2008-03-26

KATHMANDU, March 25 – Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has confirmed Nepal as the host for the ACC U-17 Elite Cup 2008 scheduled for November, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) informed at a press meet on Tuesday.

“It was a crucial decision because Kuwait was also being considered,” CAN President Binaya Raj Pandey, who participated in the meeting of the ACC Development Committee last week in Pakistan, said. “Questions over facilities at our ground were raised but I assured them of improvement in facilities.”

Pandey also informed that the next edition of ACC U-15 Elite Cup will be played between 12 teams after no teams were relegated after the fiasco that saw eight teams disqualified over age-verification. “ACC will develop a pre-tournament age-verification protocol within a month and no such event will happen in the future events during the tournament,” he added.

Pandey also said that CAN’s plans to ‘emphasise on playing with better teams’ is taking shape after nearing agreement with Bangladesh and positive response from Pakistan. “With Bangladesh, we are finalizing a three-year exchange program,” he said. “While Pakistan has proposed a program for junior, academy and A teams.”

“I also talked with Sri Lankan cricket board president Arjuna Ranatunga, who said he will look into things for supporting Nepali cricket,” Pandey said adding that he was flying to Delhi on Friday to meet Arun Jaitley, a member of BCCI and the president of Delhi District Cricket Association, to look into possibilities of tour programs.

During the program, CAN General Secretary Tanka Paneru said that Bhaktapur would not host any matches of the upcoming Springwood One-Day National League Cricket Tournament. “Engineering Ground, which was initially unavailable, is now available, so it will host two matches scheduled for Bhaktapur,” he said.

Paneru also said that the total budget of the final round of the national league is estimated at Rs 1,050,653. “The players will be paid Rs 300 as daily allowance, a 50 percent increment from the last year,” he said. CAN has also formed an organizing committee under Upendra Bhattarai and three committees for the event – technical (co-ordinator Naresh Shrestha), ground management (co-ordinator Binod Raj Rajbhandari) and press and publicity (co-ordinator Diwakar Ghale).

Meanwhile, Samson Jung Thapa and Raju Khadka left for Lahore, Pakistan for the ACC Level 2 Coaching Course scheduled for March 26-31, CAN said in a release.

National League, strating from April 28

Cricket Association of Nepal has announced the Springwood One-day National League from March 28 to April 6 and April 7 will be the reserve day for the final.

This year’s event will see all teams fighting each other in the round-robin league rather than two groups of three teams format used in past. Three grounds of the Kathmandu Valley – the TU Ground, Laboratory School Ground and Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidyalaya Ground – will host matches.

On the opening day, defending champions Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) meets Region No 6 (Baitadi) at TU while four-time champions Region No 1 (Biratnagar) plays Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) at Lab. Biratnagar and Bhairahawa meets the next day at TU while the remaining two pair for another match at Lab. Three-time finalist Region No 3 (Kathmandu) and 2006 winners Region No 2 plays on March 30 at BSAM.

After the round-robin league, the top two teams will play for the championship. The winners will get Rs 75,000, while the runners up receive Rs 40,000. Man of the series will get Rs 15,000 and the best batsman and bowler will receive Rs 10,000 each.

The players’ daily allowance has been increased to Rs 300 from Rs 200. Springwood of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd is the main sponsor and Standard Chartered Bank is its the co-sponsor. The senior National team will be selected for the ICC World League Division V and the ACC Trophy  from this national league. The Division V tournament will be held in Jersey in May, while the ACC Trophy is slated for July in Malaysia.