By a Staff Reporter
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has honored Cricket Association of Nepal’s (CAN) President Chatur Bahadur Chand with the ICC Long Service Award.
Acting Secretary Prashant Bikram Malla informed that the award was presented to Chand in the ICC’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Birmingham, England for his long term service in the Nepali Cricket Board. President Chand and Acting Secretary Malla flew to England last week to attend the ICC’s AGM on behalf of CAN.
ICC honors the individual who works in the cricket board with an award every year. ICC presents Long Service Award to selected individuals among its 107 member countries who have contributed in various services under the cricket board. This year, 18 people among 107 ICC member countries have been honored for their contribution, as per Malla.
Chand has been working in CAN for a long time in various positions. Chand was elected as the president of CAN in 2072. Before that, he worked in various positions. But the then president Tanka Angbuhang’s group boycotted the election, raising their dissatisfaction. Based on that, the former Member Secretary of National Sports Council (NSC) Keshav Kumar Bista refused the election and reformed the CAN board under the chairmanship of Ramesh Kumar Silwal.
After which ICC suspended CAN on April 25, 2016 citing increasing government interference in it. Chand got reelected as the President from the election held in 2076. He has been heavily criticized for not being able to work.
Nepal’s prime agenda in the ICC’s AGM was regarding ODI recognition. So far, it has not been decided how to take on the ODI recognition. Nepal, on the other hand, had proposed to provide ODI recognition to two more countries without removing the existing seven. It is said that the decision will be made in November. Malla says that the result will be dependable on the decision of the 12 Test team.
Nepal is currently playing in the ICC World Cup League-2 tri series ODI. The top three teams will directly qualify in the ODI World Cup Qualifiers to be held at Zimbabwe in June/July. The remaining four teams will have to face the playoffs. It is not yet clear how and on what basis teams will get ODI recognition. Meanwhile, Nepal is at the bottom of the ICC World Cup League-2 points table with 17 points from 20 matches with 8 wins and 11 losses.
