Nepali women cricketers’ 13-month hiatus from international cricket will finally end when the team takes to the field for the Thailand Women’s Twenty20 Smash scheduled for January 12-18 next year.

Nepali women have not played any international match after they participated in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifying Series Asia Region, also in Thailand, in November last year. The Twenty20 smash is organised by Cricket Association of Thailand and will involve 10 teams — five in each group.

Nepal is drawn alongside Kuwait, Namibia, Tanzania and Indonesia. After the round robin league, the top two teams will make it to the semi-finals. Host Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka Navy, Hong Kong and Bhutan are in the other pool.

For Nepal, the Twenty20 Smash will serve as the country’s preparation for the upcoming ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup Asia Qualifier which is also being hosted by Thailand from February 18-27. China, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates are the six participating teams in the Asia Qualifier.

The round-robin league Asia Qualifier will send the winner into the Global Qualifier of the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup and ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2020. The closed-camp for the Nepali women’s team has been called up from December 19 in Kathmandu.

Nepal will begin its Twenty20 Smash campaign with the match against Tanzania on January 12 before playing Namibia on January 14. Next up for Nepal will be Indonesia on January 15 and Kuwait the next day. The semi-finals are scheduled for January 17.