Nepali cricketers will set their feet for the first time at the Lord’s Cricket Ground—the Mecca of cricket—to play Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in July next year.

MCC Head of Cricket John Stephenson confirmed about the historic game for Nepal through a press conference here on Tuesday. The match will be played to mark the England-Nepal 200-year bilateral relationship. The date for the match to be held next year is yet to be announced.

Stephenson also confirmed MCC’s tour of Nepal from November 13-24. The tour came into uncertainty after Nepal was hit by April 25 Great Quake but following a fact-finding mission to the country, the MCC Head of Cricket confirmed that the tour will go as planned.

The MCC is scheduled to play five matches, two of them against the national cricket team, during their visit to Nepal. “Since the MCC tour coincides with the Nepal’s World Cricket League Championship match against Papua New Guinea (scheduled for November 16 and 18 in Abu Dhabi), both matches will take place after their return,” informed Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) CEO Bhawana Ghimire during a press conference.

Stephenson said they will come up with a competitive squad to play against the Nepali teams. “Our squad was bolstered by two talented contemporary cricketers but both of them have been drafted into the national squad. However, our squad will still be a strong one,” said Stephenson.

Stephenson also informed that the MCC entourage will include Level-III coaches from England who will train the young Nepali cricketers. MCC, world’s oldest cricket club formed in 1787, has helped Nepali cricket on numerous occasions. MCC had fielded skipper Paras Khadka in their squad for a match against Sussex Country Cricket Club for an Emirate Twenty20 Trophy in Dubai.

They had also involved Naresh Budhayer and Rajesh Pulami Magar for Young Cricketer’s Programme, their annual programme for rising cricketers from the Associate nations in 2013. MCC had previously visited Nepal in 2003 and 2009.

Khadka was thankful to MCC for helping Nepali cricket. “Playing for MCC was a great experience for me and we had two of our cricketers training in London under qualified coaches. We are hopeful that our cricketers will get such opportunities from MCC in the future too,” said Khadka adding the series against MCC in Nepal will have a special place.

“MCC is the first team to visit Nepal after the earthquake so the series will have a special place for us. We are glad that we have finally managed to bring them here,” said Khadka. Stephenson added that MCC will work on including more Nepali cricketers for coming tournament in Dubai.

“We are going to have the English County curtain raiser in the UAE next year and we are thinking of including few more cricketers from Nepal. We will keep in touch with CAN to update them on this matter,” said Stephenson.