KATHMANDU: The ACC U-16 Elite Cup has been rescheduled after two teams pulled out for failing to meet the minimum requirements of the tournament.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar withdrew from the 10-team event after they failed to find three nationals in their team. As per the new Asian Cricket Council (ACC) rules, the teams must field at least three genuine nationals. The 40-over a-side tournament was slated here for March 8-18 in three venues — TU, Pulchowk Engineering College and BSAM grounds.

Accordingly, the fixtures have been rescheduled with Group A comprising of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia and Group B consisting of Nepal, Kuwait, Bahrain and Hong Kong. Earlier, Nepal Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain and Hong Kong were in Group A and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Thailand, the UAE and Qatar in Group B. The kick off date of the tournament remains unchanged with exception of the final. The final will now be on March 16.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) President Binay Raj Pandey feared that one more team — Bahrain — was in line to pull out on the same grounds. “Bahrain have two nationals in their squad and they have sent one more player for age verification tests. If the player fails the tests, they could pull out,” he said. “We are discussing (with ACC) of making the tournament a league-cum-knockout event in case Bahrain pull out.”

Meanwhile, the ACC nominated an 18-member technical panel. Of the nine on-field umpires, seven are from Nepal with one each from Thailand and Singapore. Buddhi Bahadur Pradhan, Satyajeet Sarkar, Manohar Joshi, Ram Kailash Yadav, Himal Raj Giri, Durga Nath Subedi, Raman Siwakoti are the Nepali umpires while Heera Lal Yadav, Siris Upadhyaya and Mangi Lal Sharma have been named as reserves. Raju Khadka, LB Chhetri and Bijay Sharmas are the Match Referees while Adhip Pradhan, Rajendra Chand and Manjul Bhattarai will take on the role of DL umpires.

CAN announce squad

KATHMANDU: Cricket Association of Nepal announced a 14-member squad for the ACC U-16 Elite Cup scheduled here for March 8-16. The National Selection Committee headed by Arun Kumar Aryal picked up the squad from the players who were under closed camp training. Swichin Shah is the captain and Nischal Pandey his deputy. Others in the team include Dipendra Chand, Jagadish Chand (I), Bibek Chaudhary, Hari Chaulagain, Sharad Khadka, Rajiv Kumar Shah, Devendra Somare, Satish Bhagat, Mayananda Chaudhary, Sanam Shrestha, Sushan Bhari Shrestha and Roshan Khatri. Rishav Rajbhandari, Jagadish Chand (II), Ram Krishna Jaiswal and Prajwol Katuwal were named as reserves.