The decision came 10 months after the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) directed the Nepali cricket governing body to recruit paid administrators in order to take a professional approach in running cricket in the country. The ICC, in its Annual Conference in June, had formally warned CAN for not being able to recruit the two paid-administrators.

Bhawana Ghimire was appointed as the CEO, while Prakash Maharjan was finalised as the Finance Manager. There were five candidates fighting for the post of CEO with four in the other position. CAN, in presence of ICC and National Sports Council (NSC) representatives along with experts, had interviewed the candidates on September 3.

The newly recruited staffs will now assume office from October 18. According to the agreement, the CEO will receive a paycheque of Rs 75,000 and Finance Manager will get Rs 50,000 a month. Both the recruits have been provided with a six-month contract. Saturday’s board meeting of CAN also approved a budget of Rs 80 million for the next fiscal year.

The cricket governing body also decided to open regional cricket academy at all the remaining eight regions. The National Cricket Academy at the Tribhuvan University Stadium will remain as the central academy. Also, the meeting appointed Shailesh Chaudhary as the national team manager for its Sri Lanka tour from November 7-25, while Nabin Singh was named the coach for the ACC U-19 Premier to be held in Kuwait from November 7-15.

Cricketers honoured with Rs 150,000 each

Meanwhile, the cricket governing body on Saturday also honoured the national team members who participated in the ICC World Twenty20 held in Bangladesh in March with a cash reward of Rs 150,000 each. Nepal had defeated Afghanistan and Hong Kong in their impressive maiden World Twenty20 campaign that earned them Twenty20 International status for next two years.

The World T20 participating cricketers include skipper Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Sharad Vesawkar, Sompal Kami, Shakti Gauchan, Basanta Regmi, Binod Bhandari, Pradeep Airee, Naresh Budhayer, Sagar Pun, Jitendra Mukhiya, Rahul BK, Anil Mandal, Subash Khakurel and Avinash Karn. Coach Pubudu Dassanayake, assistant coach Jagat Tamatta, physiotherapist SV Subra, technical analysts Sriram Somujaya and Raman Shiwakoti along with team manager Uttam Karmacharya and media manager Sanjeev Pandey were also rewarded. CAN also bade farewell to the national team that left for Sri Lanka to prepare for the ICC World Cricket League Division-III slated for October 23-30 in Malaysia.

Nepal will undergo training and play few warm-up games against the local clubs in Sri Lanka before leaving for Malaysia on October 21. Nepal will meet hosts Malaysia, Uganda, United States of America, Bermuda and Singapore in the Division-III from where the top two teams gain promotion to Division-II.