The Wai Wai Under-19 National Cricket Tournament is all set to begin on April 15 in Kathmandu.
The event, to be participated by all eight cricket development regions, will serve as an important platform for Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) to select the players for two important upcoming events – the U-19 Asia Cup and the U-19 Youth World Cup.
The ACC U-19 Asia Cup would kick off in Malaysia from June 23 whereas ICC U-19 World Cup will be held in Australia in August.
The eight teams are divided into two groups with the group winners playing the final on April 26.
Defending champions Region No 4 Bhairahawa, Region No 7 Janakpur, Region No 5 Nepalgunj and Region No 6 Baitadi in placed in Group A while Region No 2 Birgunj, Region No 3 Kathmandu, Region No 8 Pokhara and Region No 1 Biratnagar are in Group B.
Birgunj will take on Kathmandu at the TU Cricket Ground and Pokhara will take on Biratnagar at the Pulchowk Engineering Ground on the opening day.
CAN has formed a 7-member organizing committee headed by vice-president Sri Niwas Rana for the tournament. Diwakar Ghale is the vice-coordinator while Kiran Rana, Sunil Amatya, Amit Bir Pandey, Purna Lama and Sanjeev Kumar Pandey are the members in the committee.
Grouping
Group A: Bhairahawa, Janakpur, Nepalgunj & Baitadi
Group B: Birgunj, Kathmandu, Pokhara & Biratnagar
Fixture
April 15: Birgunj vs Kathmandu (TU); Pokhara vs Biratnagar (IOE)
April 16: Birgunj vs Pokhara (TU); Kathmandu vs Biratnagar (IOE)
April 17: Birgunj vs Biratnagar (TU); Kathmandu vs Pokhara (IOE)
April 18: Bhairahawa vs Janakpur (TU); Nepalgunj vs Baitadi (IOE)
April 19: Bhairahawa vs Nepalgunj (TU); Baitadi vs Janakpur (IOE)
April 20: Bhairahwa vs Baitadi (TU); Nepalgunj vs Janakpur (IOE)
April 22: Final (TU)