KATHMANDU: Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) today announced the final 14-member national team for the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division-V Cricket Tournament scheduled here from February 20-27.

The National Selection Committee headed by Arun Kumar Aryal entrusted Paras Khadka to lead the team after the all-rounder took over the captaincy from Binod Das in the ACC Twenty20 Cup held in the UAE in November, last year.

Others in the team include skipper of the 11th South Asian Games squad Gyanendra Malla, former captain Das, Shakti Gauchan, Mehboob Alam, Sanjam Regmi, Dipendra Chaudhary, Basanta Regmi, Mahesh Chhetri, Sharad Vesawkar, Anil Kumar Mandal, Rahul Kumar BK, Amrit Bhattarai and Binod Bhandari. Subhash Khakurel, Chandra Saud, Pradip Airee and Bhuwan Karki are in reserves’ list.

The United States of America (USA), Jersey, Singapore, Bahrain, Fiji and hosts Nepal are in fray for the championship, a gateway to the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Top two teams from the Division-V will qualify for the Division-IV slated for August in Italy.

The top two teams from Division-IV will earn the tickets to the ICC World Cup Qualifiers scheduled for July-August in Scotland in 2013. The top four teams from the 12-team qualifiers will play in the 2015 World Cup. Along with the two teams from Division-IV, four teams from Div-II and six from Div-I will compete in the final qualifying tournament in Scotland.

Nepal will open their qualifying campaign against Jersey at the Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya (BSAM) grounds on February 20 before taking on Singapore the next day at the Pulchowk Engineering grounds. The hosts will meet Bahrain at the BSAM on February 23, Fiji at Tribhuvan University (TU) Stadium on February 24 and the USA at the TU Stadium on February 26. The final is scheduled for February 27 at the TU Stadium.