Nepal's national tournament begins

Further proving cricket's growing popularity in Nepal, a record number of teams will take part in the country's national tournament, the Jaya Trophy, commencing today.

The 16th version of the inter-District nation-wide event has attracted its biggest field ever, with four new Districts competing in the tournament which will conclude with the final on Tuesday, March 7.

The debuts of eastern Nepalese districts, Mahottari and Sarlahi, Kapilbastu in Central Nepal and Bardia in the Kingdom's west mean 20 Districts in all will take part, eclipsing last year's record of 16.

The tournament's newcomers will play their initial matches in preliminary round knockout games today and tomorrow, the winners of which will progress to the main draw.

This is played on a league basis, with 16 teams split into four groups. (Please see draw below).

Favoured teams are expected to be Bara, spearheaded by right arm fast medium bowler, Binod Das, and right hand spinning all-rounder, Pawan Agarwal, as well as Dhansa, Morang and Rupandehi Districts.

Morang (Group B) will look to all-rounder Paras Luniya for inspiration, while Rupanderi (Group C) possesses a quality all-rounder in opening bowler, Raju Khadga, who is also a handy batsman.

Banke District also features the crowd-pleasing, Ganesh Bahadur Sahi, a hard-hitting wicket-keeper batsman who opens the innings, as well as right-hand batsman Akram Sidiggi.

Another star is expected to be Amir Akhtar, an all-rounder who bowls left-arm medium fast.

A unique aspect of the tournament by non-Test standards is that all players must be Nepalese citizens. This is consistent with the policy for selecting the national team.

As part of the Cricket Association of Nepal's development policy, former Sri Lankan Test opening bowler, Rumesh Ratnayeke, has spent the past two days conducting coaching clinics for juniors.