The boys from Nepal make little pretensions of the task ahead of them knowing that apart from their opponents South Africa are definitely the stronger teams of the four-team group that also includes Uganda.

But though the cards are heavily stacked against the colts from the Himalayan Kingdom, still their coach Roy Dias, the former Sri Lankan Test cricketer, promises to give England a good run for their money.

"England and South Africa are definitely stronger sides and it would be tough to beat them on any ground," said Dias after a long practice session in the morning.

"But it is a game of uncertainty and I feel that we can make a match of it if we can manage to bat our full 50 overs."

The experienced Dias also banked on his bowlers to create problems in the English line-up.

"We have class bowlers in Shakti Prasad Gauchan and Monick Shrestha and they have the ability to upset any side," Dias said adding that his squad was gaining experience from every match they had played so far.

Nepal was first team to arrive for the juvenile meet and they played a couple of warm-up games against their Bangladesh counterparts. They lost all the three practice games by massive margins.

Understandably, with England, the 1998 winners, and Nepal meeting for the first time, England manager John Abrahams had little or no idea about their opponents.

"I've absolutely no idea about the strengths or weaknesses of Nepal since we've never played each other at this level," said Abrahams over cell phone.

"We have never played against them."

However, the English manager believed that his side would face no problems to get their campaign off with a bang.

"We already won two practice matches here in Chittagong so we've got idea of the local conditions and that's very useful. So our preparation has gone accordingly," Abrahams added.

SOUTH AFRICA, UGANDA

WIN WARM-UPS

While England and Nepal drew battle-lines, the Protea U-19s and Uganda had contrasting final warm-ups in the port city.

Chittagong District B team made Ugandan youths sweat before the Africans won by just one run in a low-scoring affair.

On the other hand title aspirants South Africa crushed District A team by 152 runs.

The Ugandans had to rely on a six-wicket haul by right-arm medium-pacer Daniel Ruyange as District B fell agonisingly close while chasing a modest 108 runs at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium. The local selection was dismissed in 26.5 overs with extras contributing highest 31 runs. Rajib added 30.

At the Dampara Police Lines ground, South Africa piled up a massive 306 in 49.1 overs with Jaco Booysen hitting 102.

Booysen hammered 19 boundaries in a 91-minute exhibition of stroke-play before retiring hurt. Besides Captain Divan Van Wyk gave him solid support with 78.

In reply District A were shot out for 154 in 39.3 overs. Rabbi (54) and Dalim (47) were only local batsmen that offered resistance.