ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2020

587 Rest of the World in 2019/20 With the discontinuation of the Intercontinental Cup and Namibia’s withdrawal from the South African Three-Day Cup, the amount of first-class cricket outside the Test nations is now much diminished; and the scope for such matches was reduced still further in 2019/20 with Pakistan now hosting its ‘home’ international fixtures on its own soil rather than in the United Arab Emirates. That there was even one game to populate this section was down to the MCC, which decided that its three-day match in Nepal should qualify as first-class. The match, which resulted in an easy 208-run win for MCC, was not Nepal’s first foray at first-class cricket; the team had appeared in the Intercontinental Cup in 2004 and 2005. Indeed, one member of the team, Sharad Vesawkar, was a veteran of those tournaments, so it is his proud boast that he, alone, has featured in every Nepali side at this level. (JCB)