Nepal will meet defending champions Hong Kong in the ACC Trophy Elite Cup scheduled to begin on March 31 in Kuwait.
According to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), Nepal plays Hong Kong in the Group A league match on March 31 at Unity Ground. Singapore, Kuwait and Oman are other teams in the group.
Nepal will face Oman on April 2, Kuwait on April 3 and Singapore on April 4 in the group stage matches. Nepal is 2002 finalist and three-time semifinalists of the event that began in 1996.
UAE, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bahrain and Bhutan are drawn in Group B. The top two teams from each group qualify to the semifinals.
In 2008 ACC Trophy Malaysia, Nepal defeated Hong Kong by 44 runs in the first match. Nepal reached the semifinal but lost to UAE, whom Hong Kong beat in the final to lift trophy.
Nepal was placed fourth after losing to Afghanistan in the third-place playoff.
Although the finalists of the event had, on and off, participated in the Asia Cup involving four Asian Test nations, this time there will be no qualification due to tight schedule of the Test nations.
ACC Trophy Elite 2010
Groupings
Group A: Hong Kong, Nepal, Singapore, Kuwait and Oman
Group B: UAE, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bahrain and Bhutan
Schedule
| Date | Match | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| March 31 | Kuwait v Singapore Afghanistan v Bahrain Hong Kong v Nepal | KEC Hubara Unity |
| April 1 | Bahrain v Malaysia Kuwait v Oman Bhutan v UAE | KEC Hubara Unity |
| April 2 | Afghanistan v UAE Hong Kong v Singapore Nepal v Oman | KEC Hubara Unity |
| April 3 | Kuwait v Nepal Afghanistan v Malaysia Bahrain v Bhutan | KEC Hubara Unity |
| April 4 | Bhutan v Malaysia Bahrain v UAE Oman v Singapore Kuwait v Hong Kong | KEC Hubara Unity Sulaibiya |
| April 6 | Hong Kong v Oman Nepal v Singapore Malaysia v UAE Afghanistan v Bhutan | KEC Hubara Unity Sulaibiya |
| April 7 | 7th/8th Place Playoff (A4 v B4) SF1 (A1 v B2) SF2 (A2 v B1) | KEC Hubara Unity |
| April 8 | 9th/10th Place Playoff (A5 v B5) 5th/6th Place Playoff (A3 v B3) | KEC Unity |
| April 9 | FINAL 3rd/4th Place Playoff | Hubara Unity |
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All the best!!
Best of luck to Nepalese team. Hope Nepal will lift the trophy as in ICC Division 5.
hongkong, UAE and afganistan will give compititive chalagne to nepal…Be ready to get victory over them… Best of Luck…
Our boys have done it and can do it.. Comeon..
Nepal should win, or at least reach the final, this time because there is no qualification to Asia Cup and without pressure to qualify for something, Nepal always plays better!
the group can b consider as easy. semi final sopt is confirm. any way all the best n hope this time they will win as they r playing regularly for some time now
I think Nepal have to play really well to reach the semi-final and then to win the tournament!!!
Hongkong is the defending Champions, Singapore is a lot improved side, Oman defeated Nepal in the T20′s few months ago and Kuwait is the 2Times Semifinalist in Asian T20′s. Though Nepal is also the Division 5 Champions, they will have a though time.
Nepal can also take this tournament as a preparation for division 4 and give youngsters the chance to see their capability. I hope young players such as Prithu Baskota, Subhash khakurel, Pradeep Airee gets the chance to prove their talent.
As an Afghan, i wanna say that i support my own country, but i also support Nepal.
Because Nepali team has countless fans and they must struggle hard to reach the final with Afghanistan in the ACC trophy elite 2010.
One thing that we must accept, “that experience is better than talent.”
when Afghanistan was in division 5, it was same like Nepal but they struggle hard and consequently went on all the way to ODI status and to other victories.
Due to the matches they played with different teams, match by match they got experience and now they are about to get the top spot in non-test playing nations in all formats of cricket.
As i know Nepal is similar to Afghanistan in many cases such as: support, raw talent, popularity of the game in the country and etc, and the facilities that Afghanistan doesn’t have, Nepal has it like, grounds, academies etc, so they can also promote from division 4 to 3 and so on like Afghanistan but they must strive hard.
And i really hope they get ODI status and promote like Afghanistan.
Take care guys and for now good bye.