Winner-takes-all in Challenge Match as ICC Intercontinental Cup 2006 gets underway

It really is a case of winner-takes-all when the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2006 gets underway in Windhoek on Thursday.

This year's tournament, the first-class competition for non Test-playing countries, starts with a Challenge Match between Namibia and Nepal and only one of the sides can progress to take part in the rest of the event.

The two teams are doing battle after the tournament's format was revamped at the end of last season. It has now been cut from 12 teams down to eight - although each of those teams now plays more matches than in past years - and Namibia and Nepal are fighting for that eighth spot.

Success in Windhoek will offer a superb vehicle for players to develop so both sides are under no illusions about what is at stake at the Wanderers Sports Club.

"It is so important for us, it is just critical," said Namibian Cricket Board President Laurie Pieters. "If we do not get through it will set us back at least two years."

Namibia have the advantage of not only hosting the match but also needing only a draw to progress by virtue of the fact they are ranked above Nepal when the two sides' form in multi-day and one-day cricket is combined.

And, as Nepal coach Roy Dias pointed out, those factors, amongst others, present significant hurdles for his players to overcome this week.

"It is a huge task for us," he said. "It will be our first time playing four-day cricket and we have had to travel to Namibia but if we can do well then we have the prospect of two years of continuous cricket.

"If we can get that then that will be so important to the development of our cricket because it will allow us to play outside the country, get lots of experience and mean we will need to improve our facilities and infrastructure at home," added Dias.

The preparations for the match have been hampered by bad weather which has affected the Namibian capital and Pieters said the rainfall there since January was the highest for this three-month period in 30 years.

"The outfield is long and it has been very difficult to cut it but pitch is dry and has been covered all the time although it has sweated under the covers," he said.

With Namibia's need for nothing more than a draw they could be forgiven, perhaps, for not pulling out all the stops to ensure the ground is in good condition by Thursday morning but Pieters said that was the last thing on his mind.

"We are working hard to make the field playable as we do not want fingers pointed at us saying we did not make an effort," he said.

"The ICC is sending two umpires for this match and we want them to see we are doing our utmost to get as much play as possible. We do not want to lose credibility," he added.

The bad weather has meant Namibia's players are short of match practice but they will still start as favourites thanks to home advantage and the experience they can boast in their 13-man squad.

It features ten players that took part in last year's ICC Intercontinental Cup (Namibia lost out to Kenya for a place in the semi-finals) and eight players that took part in the ICC Cricket World Cup (ICC CWC) 2003.

The side will be led by long-time captain Deon Kotze, the veteran off-spinning all-rounder, while a dangerman with the bat is opener Jan-Berrie Burger, who scored 85 in the ICC CWC clash against England in Port Elizabeth.

Also included are three players that took part in the recent ICC U/19 CWC in Sri Lanka, batsman Dawid Botha, spin-bowling all-rounder Nicholaas Scholtz and seam-bowling all-rounder Henno Prinsloo.

Nepal have included four players from their successful junior squad that beat South Africa and New Zealand to win the Plate Championship at the ICC U/19 CWC.

Captain of that U/19 side, Kanishka Chaugai, will open the batting in Windhoek, and he is joined by batsmen Sharad Vesawkar and Gyanendra Malla, together with off-spinning all-rounder Basant Regmi, man of the match in the Plate Championship final against New Zealand for his 66 and 3-41.

Nepal include eight players from their ICC Intercontinental Cup campaign of 2005, including captain and opening bowler Binod Das and vice-captain Shakti Gauchan, a top-order batsman who also bowls spin.

But they may be without opening bowler Dhirendra Bahadur, who is ill and may not recover in time to take his place in the line-up. Aamir Akhtar, a new fast bowler who has studied and played league cricket in the UK, may step up to fill the breach.

The winners of the match will go forward to play in a group that includes Scotland, defending champions Ireland and the United Arab Emirates - the side that qualified for last year's semi-finals ahead of Nepal.

The other group comprises Bermuda, Canada, Kenya and the Netherlands and the final, set to take place in early 2007, will be between the two group winners.

The new format means sides will play a minimum of three four-day matches in this tournament, increasing to seven four-day matches in 2007 and 2008 when it is hoped the event will be a full round-robin format.

That compares to a minimum of just two three-day matches per year under the previous structure which, until the semi-finals, was regionally-based rather than global.

The first group match is scheduled to start on March 29 when Kenya host the Netherlands while the winners of this challenge match will play their opening group match against Scotland starting on 11 May.

The ICC Intercontinental Cup began in 2004 to give the players from leading Associate sides the chance to improve by exposing them to a longer form of the game. Previous winners are Scotland (2004) and Ireland (2005).

Namibia (from): Deon Kotze (captain), Dawid Botha, Jan-Berrie Burger, Kola Burger, Louis Burger, Sarel Burger, Bjorn Kotze, Hugo Ludik (wicketkeeper), Henno Prinsloo, Nicholaas Scholtz, Gerrie Snyman, Stefan Swanepoel, Ian van Zyl.

Nepal (from): Binod Das (captain), Aamir Akhtar, Mahaboob Alam, Dhirendra Bahadur, Raju Basnyat, Kanishka Chaugai, Shakti Gauchan, Manoj Katuwal (wicketkeeper), Paresh Lohani, Gyanendra Malla, Raj Pradhan, Basant Regmi, Sharad Vesawkar

Umpires: Mike Gajjar & Russell Tiffin.

Full details of this year's ICC Intercontinental Cup can be found here