Nepal
Flag of Nepal
ICC membership granted	1988
ICC member status	Associate member
ICC development region	Asia
Captain	Binod Das
World Cricket League division	Five
ACC Trophy division	Champions
First recorded match	6 September 1996 v Bangladesh at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
World ranking	34th
Regional non-test ranking	5th
ICC Trophy
Appearances	1 (First in 2001)
Best result	First round, 2001
First class cricket
'''First class matches played	4
'''First class wins/losses	2/0
As of 30 July 2007

The Nepali cricket team is the cricket team representing Nepal. It is run by the Cricket Association of Nepal, which was founded in 1946, became a member of the Asian Cricket Council in 1994 and was elected to associate membership of the International Cricket Council in 1996.

History

Cricket came to Nepal in the early 20th century. The then-ruling Rana family studied in England and India where they learnt of the game. When they returned to Nepal, they established cricket grounds near royal palaces. The Cricket Association of Nepal now has 41 cricket grounds in 26 cities and towns. 5 of these are up to international standard.

Nepal gained affiliate membership of the ICC in 1988, and became an associate member in 1996. [1] They competed in the first ACC Trophy in 1996, and have competed in every such tournament since, their best result coming in 2002, when they finished as runners up to UAE. They competed in the ICC Trophy for the first, and to date only, time in the 2001 tournament, though they didn't progress beyond the first round.

Nepal have played in both years so far of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, finishing second in the Asian group both times. Nepal won one of the games, and drew the other, whereas the UAE won one and lost one. Although Nepal had the better Win/Loss record, the UAE topped the group through bonus points, a factor which led to the ICC reforming the competition from 2006. As a result, Nepal played a qualification match against Namibia prior to the 2006 tournament, drawing the match but failing to qualify for the tournament.

Nepali cricket took a giant stride forward in February 2006 when the Under-19 team beat New Zealand in the final of the Plate Championship of the ICC Under-19 World Cup[2]. One of the biggest stars of the tournament for Nepal was Kanishka Chaugain, for whom this was his third appearance in the tournament. He provided solid starts to Nepal and was regularly backed up by a patient middle order. Another encouraging aspect of the tournament was that of the Nepali bowlers, who managed to restrict Test sides like South Africa, New Zealand and England to modest totals. Many believe a stable political situation in Nepal and a modest increase in funding for cricket in the country can propel the national team to great heights.

Tournament History

World Cup

Nepal have never qualified for the Cricket World Cup.

Intercontinental Cup

• 2004: First round
• 2005: First round
• 2006: Did not qualify

ICC Trophy

• 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

ACC Premier League

• 2004: 3rd place
• 2005: Runners up
• 2006: Winner

ACC Trophy

• 1996: First round
• 1998: First round
• 2000: Semi Finals
• 2002: Runners up
• 2004: 5th place
• 2006: 4th place

Cricket in 2006

In March, Nepal played Namibia to decide which team gets the final place in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup. They drew the game, which meant that Namibia qualified for the first round due to their higher ranking.

In August, Nepal competed in the ACC Trophy. After some comprehensive wins in the first round, they did not play as well in the play off stages, eventually finishing in fourth place. Throughout the year they will also compete in the 2006 ACC Premier League, playing 3-day matches against Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and UAE.

See also

• 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup
• List of Nepalese first-class cricketers
• Nepal national women's cricket team

References

• Nepali Cricket Site
• The Cricket Association of Nepal
• Cricinfo page on Nepal

•  • [ e] National cricket teams
Test and ODI (10)	Australia Bangladesh England India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka West Indies Zimbabwe
ODI-only (6)	Bermuda Canada Ireland Kenya Netherlands Scotland
High Performance Program Members (4)	Argentina Denmark Namibia Uganda
Other ICC associate members (23)	Belgium Botswana Cayman Islands Fiji France Germany Gibraltar Hong Kong Israel Italy Japan Jersey Kuwait Malaysia Nepal Nigeria Papua New Guinea Singapore Tanzania Thailand United Arab Emirates United States Zambia
ICC affiliate members (58)	Afghanistan Austria Bahamas Bahrain Belize Bhutan Brazil Brunei Chile Cameroon China Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Falkland Islands Finland Gambia Ghana Greece Guernsey Indonesia Iran Isle of Man Lesotho Luxembourg Malawi Maldives Mali Malta Mexico Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Norway Oman Panama Peru Philippines Portugal Qatar Rwanda Samoa Saudi Arabia Sierra Leone Slovenia South Korea Spain St. Helena Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tonga Turks and Caicos Islands Vanuatu
Former members	East Africa East and Central Africa West Africa
Non-members1	Belarus Bulgaria Estonia Iceland Latvia Poland Russia Slovakia Turkey Ukraine Uruguay
1 For Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, the national team is the West Indies; for Wales, the national team is England.