# National League Cricket (Nepal)

National League Cricket was an annual cricket tournament held in Nepal. It was administered by the Cricket Association of Nepal.

## History

The first organized league cricket in Nepal was held in 2002 as Birendra Memorial National League Cricket. Due to heavy rain, the final game set on 18 May between Biratnagar and Bhairahawa had to be cancelled and winners were declared on the basis of net run rate achieved before the final match. Biratnagar won the trophy with a run rate of +1.33 compared to +1.023 of Bhairahawa. The initial tournament was sponsored by Carlsberg.
In 2007, CAN signed sponsorship deals with Surya Nepal’s Shikhar Filter Kings, John Players and Standard Chartered Bank as the major sponsors of the revised national league and the national team for 5 years worth रु 20 Lakhs.
In 2008, the league was sponsored by Surya Nepal under the name of Springwood One Day National League held from March 28 to April 7. The event had all teams competing in round-robin league rather than in groups of three as used in past. In 2009, the league was sponsored by Pepsi and Standard Chartered Bank and the tournaments were held under the name Pepsi Standard Chartered National One Day and Twenty20 Cricket Tournament for the next five years. From the year 2011, two new departmental teams, the APF cricket team and Nepal Police cricket team joined the league. APF won the league in their first attempt. Nepal Police lost to APF in the one-day tournament but they won the Twenty20 tournament by defeating APF. Nepal Army cricket team joined the league in 2013. They also won the Twenty20 tournament in their first attempt. Nepal Police participated in the league only in 2011.
The 2015 edition of the tournament was solely sponsored by CAN itself as previous sponsors, Pepsi and Standard Chartered Bank's agreement ran out earlier that year.

## Teams

* Region-I (Biratnagar)
* Region-II (Birgunj)
* Region-III (Kathmandu)
* Region-IV (Bhairahawa)
* Region-V (Nepalgunj)
* Region-VI (Baitadi)
* Region-VII (Janakpur)
* Region-VIII (Pokhara)
* Region-IX (Dhangadhi)
* Armed Police Force Club
* Tribhuwan Army Club

### Former teams

* Nepal Police Club, 2011

## Tournament history
### Senior Men's One Day

| Tournament Year | Final Venue | Final | Final | Final |
| Tournament Year | Final Venue | Winner | Result | Runner-up |
| 2002 | N/A | Biratnagar +1.33 | Biratnagar won by superior net run rate Report | Bhairahawa +1.023 |
| 2003 | N/A | Biratnagar | Biratnagar won by 4 runs | Kathmandu |
| 2004 | N/A | Biratnagar | Biratnagar won because Bhairahawa walked out due to foggy condition Report | Bhairahawa |
| 2005 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Biratnagar 163/9 (34.2 overs) | Biratnagar won by 1 wicket | Kathmandu 162/8 (35.0 overs) |
| 2006 | N/A | Birgunj | Birgunj won Report, Report, Report | Bhairahawa |
| 2007 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Bhairahawa 212/8 (50.0 overs) | Bhairahawa won by 94 runs Match Report | Kathmandu 118 (40.0 overs) |
| 2008 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Kathmandu 199 (49.3 overs) | Kathmandu won by 1 run (D/L method) Match Report | Bhairahawa 167/9 (36.0 overs) |
| 2009 | N/A | Kathmandu | Kathmandu won Report, Report | |
| 2010 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Kathmandu 149/4 (36.5 overs) | Kathmandu won by 6 wickets Match Report | Biratnagar 148 (39.0 overs) |
| 2011 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | APF Club 217/2 (42.2 overs) | APF won by 8 wickets Match Report | Nepal Police Club 216 (49.5 overs) |
| 2012 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | APF Club 222/4 | APF won by 6 wickets Match Report | Bhairahawa 221 |
| 2014 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Birgunj 214/7 (48.5 overs) | Birgunj won by 3 wickets Scorecard, Match Report | APF Club 213 (46.1 overs) |
| 2015 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Nepal Army Club 169/5 (40.5 overs) | Nepal Army won by 5 wickets Scorecard, Match Report | APF Club 164/9 (45.0 overs) |

### Senior Men's Twenty20

| Tournament Year | Final Venue | Final | Final | Final |
| Tournament Year | Final Venue | Winner | Result | Runner-up |
| 2009 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Kathmandu 94 (19.3 overs) | Kathmandu won by 3 runs Match Report | Bhairahawa 91 (19.5 overs) |
| 2010 | Pulchowk Engineering Campus Ground Lalitpur | Biratnagar 104 (20.0 overs) | Biratnagar won by 8 runs Match Report | Bhairahawa 96/7 (20.0 overs) |
| 2011 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Nepal Police Club 85 (19.3 overs) | Nepal Police won by 4 wickets Match Report | APF Club 86/6 (19.5 overs) |
| 2012 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | APF Club 167/5 (20.0 overs) | APF won by 95 runs Scorecard, Match Report | Baitadi 72 (14.4 overs) |
| 2013 | TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur | Nepal Army Club 113/5 (15.2 overs) | Nepal Army won by 5 wickets Match Report | APF Club 112/7 (16.0 overs) |

## Controversies

In May 2010, 18 members of the national cricket team held a press conference and said they will not play the national league because of the behavior of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). However, they said they would continue their closed-camp training for 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Four.
Players boycotted the national one-day cricket championship for the second time in April 2014 in protest against the leadership of CAN and ignorance of players' needs.