KATHMANDU, MAR 07 - The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) is organising the Senior One-Day National Cricket Tournament here from March 8-23.

Nine regions and two departmental teams—Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) and Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club—are participating in the 16-day event which will also serve as the selection tournament for the national team for the upcoming World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) matches.

While the tournament winner will walk away with a cash purse of Rs 200,000, the runners-up will take home Rs 175,000. Man-of-the-series will pocket Rs 30,000 while the best batsman and best bowler are assured of Rs 20,000 apiece.

 In the absence of sponsors, the cricket governing body will itself bear the tournament expenses which is estimated to be around Rs 3.3 million.

TAC, Region No 1 Biratnagar, No 2 Birgunj, No 5 Nepalgunj, No 7 Janakpur and No 8 Pokhara are in Group ‘A’, while APF, No 3 Kathmandu, No 4 Bhairahawa, No 6 Baitadi and No 9 Dhangadi are in the next pool. On the opening day at the Tribhuvan University   Stadium, which will also host the final, APF will meet Kathmandu. Pulchowk Engineering College ground will also share the league and semi-final matches.    

After the completion of the tournament, CAN will select the best 50 players and form four teams including an U-19 squad. The four teams will then play double round robin league which will be the basis to shortlist players for the national team. CAN Acting President Deepak Koirala said the motive behind coming up with an additional tournament was to involve cricketers in continuous cricketing activities.

“We wanted to come up with a new structure but since we had all our regional tournaments completed, we devised a new plan,” said Koirala on Friday. “We will get four good teams from the Nationals. Each of those four teams will get six

matches to showcase their talents,” added Koirala.

“We are preparing to providing a back-up for the current national team and double round robin league matches are going to be crucial in our plans. We are working on a Mission 2019 World Cup and we will come up with further plans for the next two years,” the acting president added.

CAN has formed a three-member selection committee for the WCLC under the convenorship of Acting General Secretary Uttam Karmacharya. National team head coach Pubudu Dassanayake and National Sports Council head coach Jagat Tamatta are the other two members in the committee. Nepal play their first WCLC match away to Scotland in the first round which is scheduled for April-June. ICC is yet to announce the final date for the matches.

CAN softens with Dassanayake

Six months after the government retained Pubudu Dassanayake as the head coach of the national team, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) finally signed a working agreement with the coach. Dassanayake, who was looking after the team without a proper paperwork, guided Nepal to Division 3 title apart from a fourth-place finish in Division 2 and Asian Games quarter-finals.

CAN Acting President Deepak Koirala said they will now request the government to continue with the contract until the ICC World Cricket League Championship that will run till 2017.