The Under-19 National Cricket Tournament will kick off at the TU Cricket Ground on Friday, Sept 30, with a new name and structure.
The tournament will be played as the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament and will see six cricket development regions in two groups. Group A comprises of Region No 3 (Kathmandu), Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) and Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) while Region No 1 (Biratnagar), Region No 2 (Birgunj) and Region No 6 (Baitadi) are in Group B.
The top two teams will reach the semifinal to be played on Oct 7 and Oct 8. The final, scheduled for Oct 9, will be broadcasted live by Nepal Television – the first instance of state-own television broadcasting a domestic cricket. NTV bought all cricket rights for three years paying Rs. 12,00,000 a few weeks ago.
Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) organized a press conference today to inform about the tournament and made public the schedule.
“It is an important tournament as it serves as a pre-cursor of the upcoming three-day match against Malaysia and U-19 Asia Cup.†CAN president Jai Kumar Nath Shah said.
Vice-president TB Shah informed that the structure of the tournament has been changed to accommodate more teams and to increase competitiveness of the event.
The estimated budget for the event is Rs. 4,40,434, according to treasurer Pradeep Karki. Vice-president Sriniwas Rana, members Uday Shamsher Thapa, Kiran Rana, Basant Raj Satyal, Thakur Pratap Thapa and Wai Wai’s Marketing Senior Manager Lal Babu Prasad were also present on the occasion.
The Schedule
Group A: Kathmandu, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj
Group B: Biratnagar, Birgunj and Baitadi
Date Teams
Sept 30 Kathmandu vs Nepalgunj
Oct 1 Bhairahawa vs Nepalgunj
Oct 2 Kathmandu vs Bhairahawa
Oct 3 Biratnagar vs Baitadi
Oct 4 Birgunj vs Baitadi
Oct 5 Biratnagar vs Birgunj
Oct 7 Semifinal (A1 vs B2)
Oct 8 Semifinal (A2 vs B1)
Oct 9 Final