Following an impressive display against a strong Pakistani side in a high-profile one-day tour match, Nepal will bring their focus back on the crucial World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) match against Papua New Guinea (PNG) when they take Danube Lions at the ICC Academy 2 on Wednesday.

Nepal, who meet PNG on November 16 and 18, opened the tour - set by the International Cricket Council - with a drawn two-day game against Hong Kong before locking horns with Pakistan side that included their regular ODI starters. Although Nepal lost the game by 121 runs, they were lauded for a valiant batting effort they put in against a strong Pakistani pace attack.

The celebration of playing against the Test giants are now over and Nepal will look to get their basics right against a Danube side comprising of few Pakistani first class players and expatriates. “This (match against Danube) is an opportunity for us to speed up our preparations for the PNG games,” Dassanayake told The Kathmandu Post from Abu Dhabi.

“As we had a short preparation back home, there are a lot of areas where we need to improve. Danube game will allow us to work on those areas,” added the coach informing he will rest few of his main players to give opportunity for others. “Both of our new comers (spinner Irshad Ahmed and seamer Bikram Sob) will play tomorrow (Wednesday) and few main players will sit out,” said Dassanayake.

Dassanayake’s major concern will be the injury to frontline bowler Sompal Kami who sustained a tennis elbow injury in the game against Pakistan where he bowled just five overs and took off the field. “He is slightly recovering from the injury which seems to be a minor one.

The team physio has told us that he will be fit for the PNG clash,” revealed Dassanayake.

Nepal will play Oman in another 50-over game on November 14 in Abu Dhabi before meeting PNG where victories will put them on course for the 2018 World Cup Qualifying campaign.

The top six teams after the round robin league in the eight-team WCLC will join four side from the ICC ODI rankings in the World Cup Qualifiers.

MCC to play six matches in Nepal

KATHMANDU: The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Tuesday released the fixtures for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) visit of Nepal where they will play six matches against different teams in Kathmandu and Pokhara. MCC, who land in Nepal on November 13, will begin their tour with a T20 against a Combine Nepal XI on November 14 before playing Pokhara XI in Pokhara (Nov 16). On November 18, they meet Combined Nepal XI and play Nepal ‘B’ on 20 for 50-over games. The national team will then face the visiting side for a two-day game on November 21 and 22 before a T20 game a day later. Neil Dexter will lead MCC side.