Nepal starts off as favourites to win ACC U/19 Elite Cup in Kuala Lumpur

Nepal starts as odds-on favourites to win the ACC U/19 Elite Cup that will serve as the Asia U/19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier when a strong field of 10 teams go head-to-head in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 20 to 29 August.

Nepal has beaten five Full Members at the last three ICC U/19 Cricket World Cups and finished ninth at the 2006 event, ahead of both New Zealand and South Africa both of which they defeated.

However, victory in the final of the Asia qualifier, or the runner-up spot in case Malaysia wins the tournament, will not guarantee Nepal a place in the 17 February to 2 March event as Scotland, the second team from Europe, has a chance to challenge the Asia regional winner if it chooses - and is able to fund itself - to do so.

The qualifying format has been changed after Malaysia earned direct entry to the ICC U/19 CWC by virtue of being the first-ever Associate Member to host the tournament. When the previous five ICC U/19 Cricket World Cups were staged in Full Member countries, Asia was allowed one team while Europe was entitled to field two teams.

Papua New Guinea (from East Asia-Pacific Region), Ireland (from Europe Region) and Bermuda (from Americas Region) have already joined the ICC's 10 Full Members and hosts Malaysia at the 16-team ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup to be played from 17 February to 2 March 2008 in Malaysia.

The other participating teams in the Asian qualifier besides Malaysia and Nepal include three Affiliates - Qatar, Oman and Afghanistan - while the other five sides are Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.

The teams have been equally divided into two groups with Group A featuring Nepal, Thailand, Oman, UAE and Singapore while Group B includes Malaysia, Hong Kong, Qatar, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Top performers from the tournament will form a 14-man squad that will tour Sri Lanka in November for five one-day matches against club and Sri Lanka development teams. The squad will be picked by the ACC Development Officers.

Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Development Manager Sultan Rana believes the Asia qualifier is important for the development of the participating teams.

He said: "The Asia qualifier is an important tournament for all concerned. I think any one of the participating teams can win the event. I expect that the competition is going to be fierce as the teams are quite evenly matched. Reports from around the region suggest that all the teams have been training hard and have already been involved in a number of competitive matches."

The scorecards from the Asia qualifier can be found at: https://www.asiancricket.org/cnt_07_u19e.cfm

For more information about the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup including details of all five qualifying tournaments for the 2008 event go to: https://www.icc-cricket.com/icc/events/u19worldcup/

Squads:

Nepal: Paras Khadka, Sharad Vesawkar, Rahul Vishwakarma, Rom Shrestha, Shashi Kesari, Aakash Gupta, Antim Magar, Gyanendra Malla, Raj Shrestha, Abhaya Rana, Sagar Khadka, Amrit Bhattarai, Mahesh Chhetri, Chandra Sawad. Roy Dias (coach), Upendra Bhattarai (manager) and Jagat Tamatta (physio).

Thailand: Akshay Desai (captain), Noppon Senamontree, Wanchana Uisuk, Thanathit Jeerapanthawong, Rapheephong Ghai, Sahan Ranamukharaachchi, Deepanshu Kalra, Darshil Shah, Shreyanshu Tewari, Nishadh Rego, Ashwin Mathur, Vishal Gautam, Christopher Bell and Gulraiz Jamshaid. Thiti Kader (coach), Mohideen Kader (manager) and Saurabh Dhanuka (physio).

Oman: Yousuf Mahmood (captain), Vivek Venkataraman (vice-captain), Suneet Fernandes, Mohit Khimji, Jatinder Singh, Abhinav Manikandan, Gaurav Honavar, Abu Saud Haroon, Shrey Wilson, Taha Shah, Zakria Cheema, Nikhil Xavier, Bilal Cheema and Haitham Doshambhe. Mazhar Khan (coach), Madhusudan Sampat (manager) and Dr. MV Manjunath (physio)

UAE: Ahmed Raza (captain), Wasim Bari (vice-captain), Muhammad Aman Ali, Arjun Lamba, Aashish Dhingra, Irfan Sajjad Ahmed, Jai Pinakin Patel, Obaid Hameed, Owais Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Nawab Adnan, Syed Ahmed Ali and Mehtab Ali. Abey Kuruvilla (coach), Farrukh Raza Siddiqui (manager) and C.Sudhaker (trainer/physio)

Singapore: Anish Param (captain), Rizwan Madakia (vice-captain), Timothy Singham, Rohan Tripathi, Jayanth Ganapathy, Sachin Maylavarapu, Karthik Sivaramakrishnan, Wee Keng Tan, Adhir Menon, Prem Dadlani, James Muruthi, Nauveed Salim, Rezza Gaznavi and Yusof Aslam. Venkatramanan Margasahayam (coach), Sreerangam Muruthi (manager) and Swee Heng Goh (physio).

Malaysia: Ahmad Faiz (captain), Faris Lee (vice-captain), Aminuddin Ramly, Norwira Halim, Faizal Hassan, Suharril Fetri, Miran Salip, Shafiq Sharif, Shahrulnizam Yusof, Nik Ariffin, Fauzi Ariffin, Sarath Ananthasivam, Syazrul Idrus and Shahid Khan. Shahidul Alam (coach), Mohammed Iqbal Ali (manager) and V.Subramaniam (physio)

Hong Kong: Courtney Kruger (captain), Irfan Ahmed (vice-captain), Nadeem Ahmed, James Atkinson, Zuaid Khan, Nicholas Lau, Shakeel Haq, Zafran Ali, Robert Bacon, John Bacon, Ashish Gaudia, Shivang Baid, Sajjid Khan and Indrajeet Singh Gill. Lal Jayasinghe (coach) and Ravi Nagde (manager).

Qatar: Zaheer Uddin Ibrahim, Tamoor Sajjad, Kamran Khan, Ibrahim Zahoor, Faraz Ahmed, Faheem Sajjad, Mohammed Faiz Khan, Iqbal Hussain, Abhimanyu Verma, S. Abbas Hussain, Jaspreet Singh, Deon Brito, Mohammad Javaid and Yousef Munir. Aruna De Silva (coach), Gul Khan Jadoon (manager) and Venketeson Kathikeyan (physio).

Kuwait: Abdul Liaqat (captain), Ali Mehdi, Jasim Shahzad, Adnan Idress, Saad Arshad, Hasan Ali, Muzammil Khalid, Vicky Suri, Shahroz Iqbal, Haroon Shahid, Faisal Boota, Shoeb Shahyhan, Navtej Singh and Abdul Munaf. Kaleemul Hasan (coach), Asad Baig (manager) and Arjuna Amaratunga (physio)

Afghanistan: Gulbudin Naib, Mohammad Mohammadai, Shir Shirzai, Noorul Laleq, Abdul Qaderi, Sajed Khan, Aimal Wafa, Obaidullah Kunari, Asghar Hutak, Javed Ahmadi, Shabir Noori, Zakiullah Zaki and Izatullah Khan. Taj Malik Alam (coach), Abdul Amin (manager) and Raees Ahmadzai (physio).

Schedule:

20 August: Nepal v Singapore at Selangor Turf Club; Malaysia v Afghanistan at Kinrara Oval; Oman v Thailand at Bayuemas Oval; Hong Kong v Qatar at Club Aman

21 August: Thailand v UAE at Selangor Turf Club; Oman v Singapore at Kinrara Oval; Hong Kong v Kuwait at Bayuemas Oval; Afghanistan v Qatar at Club Aman

22 August: Nepal v UAE at Kinrara Oval; Malaysia v Kuwait at Bayuemas Oval

23 August: Malaysia v Hong Kong at Selangor Turf Club; Nepal v Thailand at Club Aman

24 August: Oman v UAE at Selangor Turf Club; Afghanistan v Hong Kong at Kinrara Oval; Kuwait v Qatar at Bayuemas Oval; Singapore v Thailand at Club Aman

25 August: Afghanistan v Kuwait at Royal Selangor Club; Malaysia v Qatar at Kinrara Oval; Singapore v UAE at Bayuemas Oval; Nepal v Oman at Club Aman

27 August: SF1 - A1 v B2 at Bayuemas Oval; SF2 - A2 v B1 at Kinrara Oval; 9th & 10th Playoff - A5 v B5 at Club Aman

28 August: 3rd & 4th Playoff - Losers of SF1 v SF2 at Selangor Turf Club; 5th & 6th Playoff - A3 v B3 at Bayuemas Oval; 7th & 8th Playoff - A4 v B4 at Club Aman

29 August: FINAL - Winners of SF1 v SF2 at Kinrara Oval

The ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup is a vital part of the ICC Development Program and provides a vehicle for the best young cricketers in the world to parade their skills.

Many of the future stars of the game experience their first true international exposure at this tournament and players such as Brian Lara, Michael Atherton, Yuvraj Singh, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Cairns, Michael Clarke, Graeme Smith and Sanath Jayasuriya have used the event as a stepping stone to full international honours.

First staged in Australia in 1988, the tournament was initially organised on an occasional basis, but since the commencement of the ICC Development Program in 1997 it has become a biennial fixture.

The 2010 ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup will be held in Kenya while the 2012 tournament will be staged in Canada and UAE will host the 2014 edition.