Nepal's road of toil reaches the ODI doorway

It's been a long road for Nepal.

At Amstelveen tomorrow, in the picturesque environs of the Amsterdamse Bos, VRA cricket ground will be the site where Nepal will become an ODI nation. In the first of a two-match series against the Netherlands (themselves returning to ODI cricket after a four-year absence) Nepal will make what is arguably the most anticipated debut in One Day internationals cricket since South Africa's inaugural one-dayer against India at Eden Gardens back in 1992, which also marked their return to the international fold after 22 years of isolation.

It's taken Nepal longer to get there than it should have really. In the early years of the new millennium they were Asia's leading Associate, their under-19s were racking up regular wins against Full Members at successive World Cups. But held back in part by the same neglect from the games' great powers that affects every Associate to some degree, but arguably more by the chronically shambolic administration at home, Nepal have lingered on the periphery of the Associate top flight for over a decade.

They have since seen rivals emerge and eclipse them - most notably, of course, Afghanistan. In the early stages of the latter's precipitous rise, the two enjoyed the Associate world's noisiest rivalry, but these days even the most ardent Nepal fan (a keenly contested title, to say the least) would concede that the Afghans have passed them. As Afghanistan were awarded Test Status in June of last year, Nepal languished in the relegation zone of the World Cricket League Championship and indeed were lucky to have even been a part of Associate cricket's premiere 50-over competition (only a retroactive rule-change following 2015 WCL Division 2 in Namibia saw them and Kenya take the two places made available by Ireland and Afghanistan's elevation to the ODI FTP).

It was the first time Nepal had reached the WCL's top division, having bounced around between the second and fourth divisions since the league's inception a decade ago, and despite running Scotland close in their first match at Ayr, it would take them five games to record their first victory - a five wicket win over Namibia in front of a capacity home crowd at Tribhuvan University Ground at Kiritpur. They would win just three more in the end, and finish second from bottom. Relegated back to the all-too-familiar Division 2, the odds were against Nepal even reaching the World Cup Qualifier. They made it. Just. The 2018 WCL Divison 2 in Windhoek turned out to be the most extraordinary, close-fought,