Sports
Nepal call 28 players for closed camp training
Nepal on Wednesday called up 28 players for the preliminary closed camp training ahead of their final round matches of the ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) against the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Nepal on Wednesday called up 28 players for the preliminary closed camp training ahead of their final round matches of the ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) against the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Nepal are taking on the UAE in the final two matches on December 6 and 8 but the team has already lost automatic berth in the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers. The eight-team WCLC sends the top four teams in the Qualifiers with the Netherlands and Papua New Guinea already making it through. Scotland, Hong Kong and Kenya are still in the fray for the two remaining spots for direct qualification.
Nepal are currently sixth in the tournament with nine points from 12 matches and the game against the UAE will give them an opportunity to salvage some pride and prepare themselves for the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 to be held in February next year.
The preliminary squad includes 14 players who competed in the WCLC sixth round games against Hong Kong. Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Sharad Vesawkar, Basant Regmi, Sompal Kami, Binod Bhandari, Sagar Pun, Karan KC, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane, Arif Sheikh, Lalit Singh Bhandari, Sushan Bhari Shrestha and Sushil Kandel were the part of the team for Hong Kong games.
Naresh Budhayer, who had gone as replacement of Vesawkar after the No 3 batsman suffered from fever, has also been called up along with Shakti Gauchan, Jitendra Mukhiya, Mehboob Alam, Saurabh Khanal, Hasim Ansari, Siddhant Lohani, Dilip Nath, Bikram Sob, Sunil Dhamala, Anil Mandal and Kushal Bhurtel.
Two more players will be selected from the U-19 team which is currently in Malaysia for the ACC U-19 Asia Cup. Nepal are also scheduled to play against the United States of America on December 1 and Kenya on December 3 ahead of their matches against the UAE, who are at the bottom of the WCLC table with six points. Namibia—also on six points—are ahead of them on better net run-rate.