Binaya Raj Pandey, President of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) receives this year's Pepsi ICC Development Programme Lifetime Service award. This is the second consecutive year that someone from the Asian region has been given this honour by the International Cricket Council, HRH Tunku Imran of the Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) being recognized last year. As well as the Lifetime Service Award CAN won the Best Junior Cricket Initiative. Nepal's Development Awards came just two days after the national team's Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 victory.

Mr. Pandey has been involved in the Cricket Association of Nepal on and off for decades, first attending ACC meetings in 1991 and ICC meetings in 1996. He has been CAN President since 2006. A man of steely resolve, yet modest and soft-spoken, Mr. Pandey when contacted in Kathmandu said, “I’ve been dedicated to cricket for a very long time now. It was the ACC who first recognized my work and I am grateful for this award. I really have to give credit to my family because it is definitely not easy when I spend so much time on cricket. I’d also like to dedicate my award to everyone in Nepal Cricket,” said Mr. Pandey.

Nepal victorious, Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 2010 © ICC

“Winning WCL Division 5 is also another highlight for us all in Nepal. This will move the overall cricketing structure forward in Nepal and hopefully prepare us for entry into the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Now we must immediately look ahead and start preparing for the ACC Under-16 Elite Cup, ACC Trophy Elite and the WCL Division 4 tournament in Italy in August,” he added.

© ICC

“Winning the global award for our Junior Cricket Initiative is also good for cricket in the country as it recognizes the start of our five-year government sponsored program which is designed to help children across the country have more access to cricket. This recognition will make the Government feel even better about actively supporting the game.”

The ACC had earlier nominated candidates in seven of the eight categories to the ICC Development Awards. Judges of this year’s Awards were ICC President David Morgan, former ICC Presidents Ehsan Mani, Malcolm Gray and Ray Mali with Keith Bradshaw, the Secretary and Chief Executive of Marylebone Cricket Club.

Other winners at this year’s awards were Namibia Cricket Board for the Best Overall Cricket Development Programme, the Deutscher Cricket Bund (Germany) for the Best Women’s Cricket Initiative, Cricket PNG (Papua New Guinea) for the Best Cricket Promotion and Marketing Programme, Israel Cricket Association for Best Spirit of Cricket Initiative in Partnership with UNAIDS and UNICEF, Cricket Ireland for Photo of the Year and the Volunteer of the Year award was shared between James Bennett of Cricket Ireland and S. Gopalakrishnan of Cricket Indonesia.

Related:
Nepal Cricket Profile
Previous Global Development Award Winners

Filed March 2nd, 2010