Nepal will host Namibia and Scotland in the Tri-Series fixture of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 from February 14 to 21 at the TU cricket ground in Kirtipur.

According to the fixture released by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Sunday, Nepal will play Namibia on February 14 and 18 in the doubled-header format. Nepal will play against Scotland on February 17 and 21, while Scotland and Namibia will clash on February 15 and 20.

Nepal currently sit sixth in the team standings with 18 points from 24 matches among seven teams, which also include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Papua New Guinea (PNG), Oman and the United States of America (USA).

The teams finishing in top three positions will qualify for World Cup Qualifiers and the top five teams will retain One-Day International status. The bottom four will have to go through the playoffs for the Qualifiers.

However, Nepal’s chances of finishing in the top three is hanging by a thread. But, it can still look ahead to the qualifier playoffs—a repechage event to the Global Qualifier—that will be joined by the winner of Challenge League A and B. The top two teams from the playoffs will keep their hopes of participating in the Cricket World Cup in 2023.

But, before that, Nepal faces an uphill task ahead—retaining their One-Day International status by securing their position in the top five.

Each team will play 36 matches at the end of the league cycle. Scotland leads the standings with 46 points from 32 games, Oman are behind them on 44 points after playing all 36 games. Namibia (37 points from 30 games), US (35 points from 36 games), UAE (27 points from 26 games), Nepal (18 points from 24 games) and Papua New Guinea (five points from 28 games) are the other participating teams.