Kathmandu, September 18

National cricket team head coach Jagat Tamatta and skipper Paras Khadka today  named the 14-member squad for the ICC World Cricket League Championship matches against Hong Kong.

Nepal will travel to Hong  Kong for the sixth-round matches to be held at the Tin  Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Mong Hok on October 13 and October 15.

Lalit Bhandari and Sushil Kandel are the new faces in the team. Other  members are skipper Khadka, Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla,  Sharad Vesawkar, Basant Regmi, Sagar Pun, Sompal Kami, Binod Bhandari,  Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sushan Bhari and  Arif Sheikh.

Similarly, Jintendra Kumar Mukhiya, Naresh Bahadur Budhayer, Mehboob Alam and Kushal Bhurtel have been kept in reserve list. A  total of eight countries — Nepal, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea,  Scotland, Hong Kong, Kenya, Namibia and United Arab Emirates — are  competing in the WCL Championship. The top four teams will earn berths in the ICC World Cup 2019 Qualifiers to be held next  year.

At the end of five rounds, the Netherlands are leading the  standing with 16 points, while PNG and Scotland are second and third  with 14 and 13 points respectively. Hong Kong (11) and  Kenya (10) are also ahead of Nepal (eight), while Namibia (four) and UAE  (four) are seventh and eighth respectively.

Nepal team is currently in Chennai to prepare for the Championship. It will play four  practice matches during its 11-day stay in India.