Nepali cricket squad left for Singapore today for the mathces against Singapore and Malaysia at their home turfs under the ACC Fast Track Nations Tournament. Coach Roy Dias called the the tour an important one.
Nineteen-member Nepali team was wished best of luck by Cricket Association of Nepal president Jai Kumar Nath Shah and National Sports Council member secretary Kishore Bahadur Singh in a farewell program on Wednesday morning.
Nepal-Singapore three-day match is scheduled to begin on September 17. After Singapore match, Nepal will fly in to Malaysia for the September 24-26 tie.
Addressing the team, NSC member-secretary Singh asked the players and officials to peform best with discipline and nationality in mind. CAN president Shah hoped the team would perform the best.
Talking to NepalCricket.com, Nepal’s coach Sri Lankan legendary batsman Roy Luke Dias hoped for the better peroformance of the team. “All the players are experiened and senior,” Dias said. “So they are capable of thinking and performing.”
Dias called the tour a ‘very important one’ adding that ‘three-day matches improves batting, bowling and fielding.’ Nepal, after a failure in the ACC Trophy, is keen to perform better.
Dias and captain Raju Khadka both were complaining about the lack of practice. “We had only four days outdoor practice which is not enough,” Dias said. “But hopefully we would be able to get a day for practice in Singapore.”
Khadka said despite having no match pratice after the ACC Trophy, the players have worked hard to keep themselves fit for the game.
Nepali squad: Raju Khadka, Binod Das, Shakti Gauchan, Dipendra Chaudhary, Mehboob Alam, Paresh Lohani, Rajkumar Pradhan, Sanjam Regmi, Paras Khadka, Sarad Veswakar, Kaniska Chaugai, Raju Basnet, Mahesh Chhettri, Manoj Katuwal, Roy Dias (coach), Jagat Tamata (assistant coach), Ashok Nath Pyakurel (manager), Basant Raj Satyal (assistant manager) and Rajendra Gyawali (journalist).
Meanwhile, Singapore Cricket Association has announced the team for the match against Nepal. The team: Zeng Renchun (Captain),A.N.Balaji, Iftekhar Haider, Christopher Janik, Rishi Kau, Rizwan Madakia, Jackie Manoj, Buddhika Mendis, Glenn Meyer, Pramodh Raja, Rama Prasad, Shoaib Razzak, Surya Prakaksh, Zeeshan Zaidi, S Muruthi (Manager), Sarika Prasad (Coach) and Goh Swee Heng (Trainer).
The tournament involves five top non-Test playing nations of Asia competing in the 3-day matches, all non-First Class, for the trophy. The final is scheduled for late February or early March in 2005.
UAE has already won the inaugural match against Singapore in May. Nepal will host UAE for its only home tie late September.
THE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
May 1-3 UAE vs Singapore in Singapore
Sept 17-19 Nepal vs Singapore in Singapore
Sept 24-26 Nepal vs Malaysia in Malaysia
Sept 30-Oct 2 Singapore vs Hong Kong in Hong Kong
Oct 1-3 UAE vs Malaysia in UAE
Oct 11-12 Nepal vs UAE in Nepal
Oct 22-24 Hong Kong vs Malaysia in Hong Kong
Oct 29-31 Nepal vs Hong Kong in Hong Kong
Nov 5-7 Singapore vs Malaysia in Malaysia
Feb 9-11, 2005 Hong Kong vs UAE in Hong Kong