Scotland will host Nepal for two matches of the championship at the Cambusdoon New Ground, Ayr. The second match is scheduled for Friday. Both the matches are scheduled at 15:30 NST.
Nepal, which spent a whole month in disappointment, will try to bounce back from the painful memory of ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers. Unlike Nepal, the European side shared the trophy of the Qualifiers with the Netherlands securing berth in the next year's mega event (World T20 final) to be hosted by India. Scotland and Ireland had hosted the qualifiers from July 9-26.
A few days before the Qualifiers, Nepal went down 3-1 in four-match T20I series against the Netherlands, the host, from June 30 to July 3. Nepal also faced a humiliating exit from the Qualifiers finishing at the bottom of the group, losing four matches out of six. Nepal won only one match and shared point in another after it was disrupted by rain.
Although, Nepali team has been struggling for form in European conditions, Nepal's coach Pubudu Dassanayake was optimistic that his side will fight back to turn things in their favor during the championship.
"We went through a worst record in the Qualifiers and every member has to fight back to turn things around," said Dassanayake. "We will fight back for our form."
Nepal has not played any match after its Qualifiers campaign ended on July 18 following seven wickets defeat against Jersey. The team spent most of the time taking rest after tiresome two months training and matches. "We could not play any practice matches due to rain so players got time for rest," added coach Dassanayake.
On the other hand, Scotland is also aiming to finish championship in a high note. "After the excitement of the ICC World T20 Qualifiers, we're looking forward to the trip to Ayr and getting our World Cricket League Championship campaign underway against a talented Nepalese side. It will be the last leg of a solid period of representative cricket, and the groups are hungry to finish on a high," Scotland captain Preston Mommsen was quoted by ICC on Monday.
Meanwhile, Nepal skipper Paras Khadka said that his side will try to improve their performances. "Having played in these conditions for the last few weeks, we are slowly getting used to how to go about things. As a group we need to step up and improve the performance, compared to our last outing in Ireland. Scotland is a good team and we will have to play to our potential and come up with good plans to beat them. The players know the need to stand up and be counted," Paras said.
Nepal will host Papua New Guinea on October 31 and November 2 in second round of the championship.
SQUADS
Nepal Squad: Paras Khadka (captain), Pradeep Airee, Prithu Baskota, Mahesh Kumar Chettri (wk), Sompal Kami, Avinash Karn, Karan KC, Siddhant Lohani, Rajesh Pulami Magar, Gyanendra Malla, Anil Kumar Mandal, Shakti Prasad Gauchan, Basant Regmi, Sharad Vesawkar
Scotland Squad: Preston Mommsen (captain), Richie Berrington, Kyle Coetzer, Matthew Cross (wk), Con de Lange, Alasdair Evans, Hamish Gardiner, Michael Leask, Gavin Main, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Craig Wallace, Mark Watt
Sandeep Lamichhane takes three consecutive wickets against Scot...
WCLC: Pathway for WC Qualifiers
REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, July 28
The ICC World Cricket League Championship (ICC WCLC) is an elite 50-over competition played between leading Associate and affiliate members. The ICC WCLC is the pathway for participating teams to play in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2018 (ICC CWCQ) and subsequently to qualify for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
The ICC WCL Championship will run from 2015-2017. Four of the eight participating teams in ICC WCLC have ODI status while four other teams have been promoted from ICC WCL Division 2, which was held in Namibia in January this year.
Hong Kong (ODI), United Arab Emirates (ODI), Scotland (ODI), Papua New Guinea (ODI), Netherlands, Nepal, Namibia and Kenya are in the championship.
Netherlands, Namibia, Nepal and Kenya were promoted from Division 2.
In the first round, the Netherlands beat Papua New Guinea in both matches, while Namibia lost first match and won second against Hong Kong. Similarly, Kenya won the first match and lost second against the UAE. Nepal and Scotland have yet to play their matches of the first round.
