The
Nepal national cricket team is the team that
represents the country of Nepal
in
international cricket matches. They
have been an associate member of the
International Cricket Council
since 1996, having previously been an affiliate member since
1988.
They have been participating in international matches since 1996,
including every
ACC Trophy tournament,
the
2001 ICC Trophy and two
ICC Intercontinental Cups.
History
Beginnings
Cricket
was introduced to Nepal by the ruling Rana
dynasty when they returned from studies in England
and India
in the
1920s, though the game was kept very much for themselves and the
other elite. The
Cricket Association of Nepal
was formed in 1946 to promote cricket amongst the
aristocracy.
When
King Tribhuvan overthrew the
Rana family in 1951, cricket began to spread to the rest of the
population.
A team of Nepali players visited India in 1954, and
in 1961 the Cricket Association of Nepal became part of the
National Sports Council, to attempt to promote cricket in the whole
of Nepal, though this tended to be limited to Kathmandu
until the 1980s.
ICC membership
Improvements to the communication and transport infrastructures in
Nepal allowed the game to expand outside Kathmandu in the 1980s and
Nepal became an affiliate member of the International Cricket
Council in 1988. A major development programme was begun in the
early 1990s, with regional and district tournaments established and
cricket being promoted in schools.
The interest in cricket increased quickly, and demand to play was
such that teams in tournaments had to be restricted until more
facilities were built in the mid 1990s.
Nepal became an
associate member of the International Cricket Council in 1996,
which was the year the national side played for the first time, in
the ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur
, in which Nepal finished fourth out of six teams in
their first round group, beating Brunei and Japan.
The
facilities in Nepal had improved enough by 1998 to allow them to
host that year's ACC Trophy at grounds in Lalitpur, Kirtipur
(at Tribhuvan University) and
Kathmandu. Nepal themselves were unsuccessful in the
tournament, going without a win.
21st century
In 2000, Nepal's youth development policy began to pay off when the
Nepal Under-19 team
finished eighth in the
Under-19
World Cup.
The senior side had their best performance to
date later in the year when they reached the semi-finals of the ACC
Trophy before losing to Hong
Kong at Sharjah
. They competed in the
ICC Trophy for the first and, to date, only time
the following year.
In the tournament in Ontario
, they beat
Germany and Gibraltar, but a loss to
eventual runners-up Namibia prevented them from
progressing past the first round.
In 2002,
Nepal were runners-up to the UAE in the ACC
Trophy in Singapore
and they hosted the ACC Emerging Nations Tournament
in 2003, winning easily against Bhutan and the Maldives. They won so
comprehensively that they were not invited back to the tournament
the next time it was played in 2005.
Nepal played
first-class cricket
for the first time in 2004, playing in the
ICC Intercontinental Cup against
the UAE and
Malaysia.
They beat Malaysia, but drew with the UAE, failing to reach the
semi-final stage. They finished third in the
ACC Fast Track Nations Tournament during
2004, which qualified them for the
2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup,
and finished 5th in the ACC Trophy, which qualified them for the
repêchage tournament of the
2005 ICC
Trophy.
They finished third in this tournament after
beating Qatar in a
play-off, meaning that they did not qualify for the 2005 ICC Trophy
in Ireland
. They
beat the UAE and drew with Hong Kong in the 2005 ICC
Intercontinental Cup, but missed out on qualification for the
semi-finals by half a point. They were runners-up to the UAE in the
2005 ACC Fast Track Nations Tournament.
In March
2006, Nepal played Namibia in Windhoek
in a play-off match to decide the final team in the
2006 ICC Intercontinental
Cup. Needing to win outright to qualify for the main
tournament, the match was drawn after there was no play on the
first day. Later in the year, they toured Pakistan, playing against
the Pakistan Cricket Academy before playing in the ACC Trophy in
Kuala Lumpur. They finished fourth in the tournament after losing
to
Afghanistan in
a play-off. They won the first
ACC
Premier League in 2006. They most recently played in the
ACC Twenty20 Cup in Kuwait, where
they finished fourth in their first round group.
Tournament History
- 1979 to 1986 inclusive: Not eligible - Not an ICC member
- 1990: Not eligible - ICC
affiliate member
- 1994: Not eligible - ICC
affiliate member
- 1997: Did not participate
- 2001: First round
- 2005: Did not qualify
- 1996: First round
- 1998: First round
- 2000: Finals
- 2002: Runners up
- 2004: 2nd place
- 2006: 4th place
- 2008: 4th place
- 2007: Semi-finals
- 2009: 5th place
- 2004: Winner
- 2005: Runners up
- 2006: Winner
Records
Overall
- Highest team score: 397/8 against Bhutan, Kathmandu, 2003
- Highest individual score: 108 by Mahaboob Alam against Malaysia, Kathmandu,
2005
- Best innings bowling: 10/12 by Mahaboob Alam against
Mozambique, Jersey, 2008,Record best at asscciate/affiliate
level,only 3rd time in world cricket
ICC Trophy
- Highest team score: 175/9 against Germany,
Maple Leaf
Cricket Club
, King City, Ontario
, Canada
,
2001
- Highest individual score: 52 by Dipendra Chaudhary against Germany, Maple
Leaf Cricket Club, King City, Ontario, Canada, 2001
- Best innings bowling: 4/23 by Parash Luniya against Germany,
Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City, Ontario, Canada, 2001
Current Squad
- The following list contains the 14 players in Nepal's squad
for the 2009 ACC Twenty20
Cup:
The future
In May
2008, Nepal travelled to Jersey
to play in
Division
Five of the World Cricket
League. Although Nepal topped Group A after the group
qualifying matches, they lost their semi-final to
Afghanistan and finished
third overall after defeating the
USA in a playoff. With
only the top two from this tournament qualifying for
Division Four in
Tanzania later in the year, Nepal missed
out on the chance to take their 2011 World Cup dream any
further.
They also played in the ACC Trophy at some point in the year.
Their top eight finish in the 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup will mean that
they will play in the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup, which will serve as a
qualifier for the cricket tournament at the
2010 Asian Games.
They are playing in
2010 ICC World
Cricket League Division Five at home, which will be their way
to
Cricket World Cup
See also
References
- Nepal at CricketArchive
- Encyclopedia of World Cricket by Roy Morgan, Sports Books
Publishing, 2007
- 2001 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
- 1996 ACC Trophy at CricketEurope
- 1998 ACC Trophy at CricketArchive
- 1998 ACC Trophy Points Table at
CricketArchive
- 2000 Under-19 World Cup at CricketEurope
- Scorecard of Hong Kong v Nepal, 21 November
2000 at CricketArchive
- Scorecard of Nepal v UAE, 21 July 2002 at
CricketArchive
- 2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup at
CricketEurope
- 2004 ACC Fast Track Nations Tournament at the
Asian Cricket Council website
- 2004 ACC Trophy at official website of the 2005
ICC Trophy
- Scorecard of Nepal v Qatar, 27 February 2005 at
CricketArchive
- 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup at
CricketEurope
- 2005 ACC Fast Track Nations Tournament points
table at official ACC website
- Scorecard of Namibia v Nepal, 23 March 2006 at
CricketArchive
- Nepal in Pakistan 2006/07 at
CricketArchive
- Scorecard of Afghanistan v Nepal, 25 August
2006 at CricketArchive
- 2006 ACC Premier League points table at ACC official
website
- 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup at CricketEurope
- 2007/08 ICC Intercontinental Cup at
CricketEurope
- 1997 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
-
http://www.cricketeurope4.net/CRICKETEUROPE/DATABASE/2008/TOURNAMENTS/ASIATROPHYELITE/about.shtml
- Nepal Totals of 150 and More in an Innings in the
ICC Trophy at CricketArchive
- Individual Scores of 50 and More in an Innings for
Nepal in the ICC Trophy at CricketArchive
- Four or More Wickets in an Innings for Nepal in the
ICC Trophy at CricketArchive
- ECC newsletter January 2008
- Asia's way to the 2011 World Cup
- Message form the Chief Executive of the Asian
Cricket Council
- http://www.asiancricket.org/h_0709_nepaldiv5.cfm
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