Kathmandu, February 20

Cricket Association of Nepal President Chatur Bahadur Chand and General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakurel formally joined the ICC Advisory Committee after the International Cricket Council agreed to amend the CAN statute and move forward.

Pyakurel confirmed that they joined the committee after the ICC issued a press release on Monday stating that the advisory committee agreed on Terms of Reference (ToR) “for the work and a community consultation process by which members of Nepali cricket community will give inputs for the revised Statute.” Pyakurel said: “The release has clearly mentioned that the committee agreed to amend the current CAN statute and I hope the ICC will work accordingly.”

A meeting of the committee — headed by ICC Head of Global Development William Glenwright — on Sunday had agreed to endorse their proposal of preparing CAN’s new statute based on the previous one. With the addition of Chand and Pyakurel, the committee will now have eight members. Former CAN President Binay Raj Pandey and industrialist Basant Chaudhary are the co-coordinators, while former national team skipper Pawan Agrawal is the secretary and National Sports Council Press Advisor Rohit Dahal the spokesperson. Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Choodamani Paudel and former acting president of CAN Deepak Koirala are the other two members.

The ICC informed it would discuss about Nepal’s membership during its annual meeting in June hinting at reinstating the membership of CAN. The ICC had suspended CAN’s membership in April last year for breaching article 2.9 related to government interference and free and fair elections. “An ICC delegation will travel to Nepal during the ICC World Cricket League Championship matches between Nepal and Kenya slated for March 11 and 13 at TU Stadium and will decide on a timetable for the adoption of the revised constitution and subsequent elections,” ICC said in the release. “Following this, Nepal’s membership of the ICC will be tabled for consideration at the ICC Annual General Meeting in June.”

Meanwhile, Pyakurel said they would not immediately withdraw the writ filed at the Supreme Court against National Sports Council’s decision of forming an ad hoc committee. “We will withdraw the case only after being convinced that everything is in right track. And the court case and Advisory Committee are two different issues. The committee is an independent body formed for the amendment of the statute,” added Pyakurel.

The third AGM of CAN in 2015 had elected a 17-member executive committee under Chatur Bahadur Chand but the NSC refused to give recognition saying the committee was obsolete. A faction of CAN led by president Tanka Angbuhang had boycotted the elections.