Nepali cricket is on a sticky wicket, as it stares at a grim prospect of losing the ICC membership altogether. 

The world cricket governing body on Thursday issued a strong-worded warning to the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) to pay heed to its directive and act, or face severe consequences. 

In a letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the Post, to CAN General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakuryal by International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman Dave Richardson, Nepal’s cricketing governing body has been given until December 22 to satisfy the reinstatement conditions of the Associate membership. 

CAN has been under the ICC suspension since April 25 last year for unfair 

elections and government interference. 

In an effort to lift the suspension, the ICC had formed an eight-member Advisory Group that reviewed the CAN statute, which was supposed to be endorsed by an August 22 Special General Meeting of CAN.

Following the approval from the National Sports Council (NSC), CAN did endorse the amendment announcing that it would hold fresh elections by December 24. 

However, the world cricket governing body reiterated that the amendments 

were not in line with the agreement made between the ICC and the Advisory Group. 

“The [ICC] Board noted (during an October 13 ICC meeting in Auckland) that it remained concerned that the CAN did not adopt the constitution as proposed by the Nepal Advisory Group, and instead adopted a constitution that contained significant changes,” Richardson has written to Pyakuryal in a letter dated November 30. 

“The Board also noted that a number of reinstatement conditions set in May 2016 remained outstanding and, indeed, that not much progress, if any, had been made in seeking to satisfy them. Having considered the update and the position in respect of CAN, the Board resolved that CAN should be urged to take all steps and action necessary to satisfy the reinstatement conditions,” the letter further reads. 

“When the Board is asked to consider CAN’s position at its next meeting in February, if it considers that CAN has not taken appropriate actions to attempt to satisfy the reinstatement conditions and consequently has failed to meet the reinstatement conditions, the Board has indicated that it will propose that a resolution be put to the ICC’s next Annual General Meeting that CAN’s membership of the ICC be brought to an end with effect therefrom.”

Given the seriousness of the situation, Richardson said in the letter, “I would again urge you to do all that you can to try and satisfy the outstanding reinstatement conditions. In this regard, I would request that all outstanding information, including a report on CAN’s satisfaction of each of the ICC Associate Membership criteria, be provided to me by 22 December 2017.”

On October 30, the ICC had asked CAN to put its election on hold, saying that it is inappropriate to go ahead with it considering the breach in recent agreement. 

It is also learnt from a separate ICC correspondence that despite repeated calls from the world cricket governing body, CAN had not responded to provide the evidence that CAN’s office bearers were appointed through free and fair elections “in line with its constitution and the government interference in CAN has not been properly addressed, understood and remedied in the full so that it can get reinstated.”