All 16 squads have now been named ahead of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012, which takes place in Queensland, Australia, from 11-26 August, according to International Cricket Council (ICC).
The final Nepal squad consists of Pradeep Airee, Prithu Baskota, Naresh Budhaayer, Ramnaresh Giri, Mahamad Hasim Ansari, Bhuban Karki, Krishna Karki, Avinash Karn, Saurabh Khanal, Gopal Singh, Rahul Kumar Vishwakarma, Rajesh Pulani, Subash Khakurel, Sagar Pun and Fajlur Rahman.
Nepal is placed in Group A alongside hosts Australia, England and Ireland.
Nepal will play Australia on August 13 at Tony Ireland Stadium (TIS), Townsville; Ireland on August 15 at Endeavour Park 1, Townsville and England on August 16 at TIS. The TIS is the only ground from where ESPN Star Sports will broadcast a total of 10 matches live including five league matches, two quarterfinals, two semifinals and the final.
Nepal will also play two practice matches before the start of the event: first against Papua New Guinea on August 7 and New Zealand on August 8.
Australia will defend the title it won in Lincoln, New Zealand, in 2010. The Australia side includes South Australia’s top order batsman Travis Head, who played all his four first-class matches this season and scored 219 runs, and New South Wales’ middle-order batsman Kurtis Patterson, who scored a smashing 157 against South Australia on his debut at the SCG in November last year.
The England side boasts 10 cricketers who have played first-class cricket. The 1998 winner will be led by Kent’s all-rounder Adam Ball, who has played nine first-class matches in which he has scored 184 runs and claimed 15 wickets.
Other England players to have played first-class cricket in the English County Championships in the UK include wicketkeeper Ben Foakes of Essex, fast bowler Daniel Bell-Drummond of Kent, Brett Hutton of Nottinghamshire, right-arm fast bowler Anesh Kapil of Worcestershire, Derbyshire’s left-arm spinner Tom Knight, Somerset’s fast bowler Craig Overton, Craig’s twin brother Jamie, Essex’s left-arm fast bowler Reece Topley and Sam Wood of Nottinghamshire.
Final squads (Group A)
Australia – Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, William Bosisto, Meyrick Buchanan, Harry Conway, Sam Hain, Travis Head, Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Jimmy Peirson, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Nick Stevens, Ashton Turner and Jack Wildermuth.
England – Adam Ball (captain), Shozair Ali, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Ben Collins, Alex Davies, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Brett Hutton, Aneesh Kapil, Tom Knight, Jamie Overton, Craig Overton, Reece Topley, Kishen Velani and Sam Wood.
Ireland – George Dockrell (captain), Scott Campbell, Peter Chase, Adam Coughlan, Shane Getkate, Ryan Hunter, Tyrone Kane, Robin Kelly, Andrew McBrine, Graeme McCarter, Barry McCarthy, Alistair Shields, Patrick Tice, Jason Van der Merwe and Ben Wylie
About ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012
Sixteen teams will be competing in the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2012. Along with ICC’s 10 Full members, the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2012, being supported by Events Queensland, will see six qualifiers – Namibia (from the Africa Region), Afghanistan and Nepal (from the Asia Region), Papua New Guinea (from the East Asia-Pacific Region) and Ireland and Scotland (from the Europe Region) – taking part in Brisbane, Townsville and the Sunshine Coast from 11-26 August.
The six teams qualified from the 10-team ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2011 Qualifier, which took place in Ireland from 28 July to 9 August 2011.
The 16 teams have been divided into four groups. The top two teams in each group after the group stage progress to the Super League quarter-finals while the two bottom teams from each group qualify for the Plate Championship quarter-finals. The winners of the Super League quarter-finals will qualify for the semi-finals, whereas the losing quarter-finalists will play in the Super League play-offs.
The winners of the Plate Championship quarter-finals will play in the Plate Championship semi-finals, while the beaten quarter-finalists will participate in the Plate Championship play-offs.
A total of 48 matches, including 24 in the first round, 12 in the Super League and 12 in the Plate Championship will be played at eight venues.