Indo-Nepal T20 cricket series

 
Fashion Link Event Management Pvt Ltd is organising the first Indo-Nepal International Youth Twenty20 Cricket Series here on April 2-3. The series includes Under-17, Under-19 and Senior team matches between the two nations. Indian Youth Twenty20 Cricket Federation will represent India while the organisers will pick the squad for Nepal. Mehboob Alam, Sandesh Katuwal and Prithu Baskota will lead the Senior, U-19 and U-17 Nepali sides respectively

Kathmandu outplay Birgunj

The Himalayan Times, Kathmandu, March 30:

Sharad Vesawkar and Gyanendra Malla hit half centuries while Raju Basnet returned with career best 5-15 as Region No 3 (Kathmandu) beat Region No 2 (Birgunj) by 81 runs in the Springwood Senior One Day National Cricket League today.

Electing to bat first at the TU Stadium, Kathmandu overcame a slow start to score 203-7 in 50 overs, while Birgunj could only muster 122 runs in 40 overs. Kathmandu were reeling at 39-3 after 15 overs, but a 146-run stand off 218 balls between Sharad Vesawkar and Gyanendra Malla guided their team to a defendable total. Kathmandu lost openers Paresh Lohani (4) and Subash Khakurel (2) as well as No 4 batsman Dipendra Chaudhary (18) fell cheaply Binod Das to invite pressure for themselves.
Vesawkar top-scored with 83 off 152 balls including five fours and two sixes while Malla hit five fours in his 98-ball 61 that guided their team to 185/4. Other batsmen failed to score in double figures as three more wickets for just 18 runs.

The scores were personal best for both Vesawkar and Malla in the national tournament. Vesawkar’s previous best was 71, while Malla had the personal mark of 59 runs. Das took 4-27 off 10 overs and also effected two run outs, while Sameer Thapa took the other wicket.

In reply, Birgunj scored 16 runs off the first two overs, but lost the wickets in regular intervals before being bundled out for 122. Hasim Ansari top-scored for Birgunj with 25 off 33 balls, while Sanjam Regmi contributed 15 and Sameer Thapa 14. Anil Mandal and Shovakanta Pandey made 12 each, while Kumar Prasun scored 11 and Raj Mohammad 10. Man of the match Raju Basnet (5-15) took his first five-wicket haul in national tournaments, while Paras Khadka claimed 3-19 and Raman Shrestha one wicket for Kathmandu.

On Monday, Kathmandu will take on Baitadi at Pulchowk Engineering College, while Birgunj play Nepalgunj at the TU Stadium.

Basnet first to reach 50-wkt mark:

KATHMANDU: Raju Basnet of Kathmandu became the first bowler to take 50 wickets in the national league when he claimed his career best 5-15 against Birgunj at the Springwood Senior One Day National Cricket League on Sunday.

The left-arm spinner achieved the feat when he dismissed Kumar Prasun of Birgunj in his 24th match of the national league. His previous best was 4-8 against Biratnagar in 2004. Binod Das of Birgunj is second with 48 wickets from 20 matches, while Raj Kumar Pradhan of Biratnagar is third with 45 from 22 matches. Mehboob Alam of Biratnagar has 39 wickets to his credit from 22 matches and Bhairahawa’s Shakti Gauchan is next with 38 wickets from 20 matches.

“This is a special achievement for me as I think this is the return of my commitment towards the sport,” said Basnet. “I would like to thank all of my teammates who supported me since the first national tournament,” he added.

National team coach Roy Luke Dias said the achievement was good for a player. “We have very few tournaments and reaching the milestone being a spinner is great,” he said.

National cricket league starts today

BY UJJWAL ACHARYA, The Kathmandu Post 2008-03-28 

KATHMANDU, March 27 – The seventh edition of the Springwood One-Day National League Cricket Tournament begins Friday with defending champion Region No 4 Bhairahawa taking onRegion No 6 Baitadi at the TU Cricket Ground and Region No 1 Biratnagar playing Region No 5 Nepalgunj at the Lab School Ground.

The inter-region format introduced in 2001 as Birendra Memorial National League will be played under round-robin league format and the top two teams in the standings will compete for the final on April 6.

The event will serve as the selection tournament for the national team scheduled to participate in two important events. Nepal will continue its fight for the World Cup 2011 qualification with World Cricket League Division V in Jersey in May while ACC Trophy in Malaysia will select two teams to play for the Asia Cup.

Region No 1 Biratnagar, with four titles in six editions, Bhairahawa, the four-time finalists, and Region No 3 Kathmandu, the three-time runner-up, are all looking forward to the title. Region No 2 Birgunj, the 2006 champion, will be the dark horse as always with the ability to knock out any team but not likely to play well consistently. Region No 5 Nepalgunj, with three wins in 27 matches so far, looks to erase the image of minnow along with Region No 6 Baitadi, which failed to register a win in the last two outings.

“We are not the favorites, our batting doesn’t look at par but with our strong bowling and favorable conditions, we are counting on reaching the final,” national captain Binod Das, who will lead Birgunj, said. Three grounds — TU, Lab and IOE — will host matches and Binod believes all will be bowler friendly.

Shakti Gauchan will lead Bhairahawa hoping for the second straight title. Always a strong team at the national level, Bhairahawa has a team of youngsters with six players from the under-19 team that competed in the Youth World Cup in Malaysia.

“We are the last year’s champions and we need to defend the title,” Shakti said after reaching Kathmandu Thursday evening. “We have prepared well and I am confident that we can defend the title.”

The team has a lot of experience in it despite being youthful and Shakti is banking on that experience. “We have a team of experienced players, and we are strong and balanced,” he added. “It’s the event that will decide which team is the best, and we want to be best.”

For Shakti, Kathmandu, the team he defeated last year to win the title, is the strong opponent along with Biratnagar. Kathmandu has been into the finals for three times and lost all three times. “This year, we need to win,” Kathmandu captain Paresh Lohani said. “We can’t always be runner-up.” Paresh believed with most of the national players and five players from Youth World Cup, Kathmandu is the team to watch.

Biratnagar wants to regain the lost glory. After winning the first four titles — two of them without playing as rain in 2002 and walkout in 2004 gave it the title, it failed to reach even the final in the next two editions. “Overall, we are a good team,” captain Manoj Katuwal, who is resuming his career after a break, said. “We have a good combination of experienced and new players and I am confident we will reach the final.”

Biratnagar will miss services of Dipendra Chaudhary, who decided to play from Kathmandu two years ago, after leading the team to titles in the earlier editions. But, it can count on Mehboob Alam, the two time man-of-the-series along with a best batsman and a best bowler award, and Raj Kumar Pradhan and a few other popular names.

“We have completed the preparation for the tournament and all grounds are ready,” Upendra Bhattarai, the co-ordinator of the organizing committee, said. The winner of the event receives a cash prize of Rs 75,000 while the runner-up pockets Rs 40,000.

Nepal to host ACC U-17 Elite Cup and Other good news

THE KATHMANDU POST, 2008-03-26

KATHMANDU, March 25 – Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has confirmed Nepal as the host for the ACC U-17 Elite Cup 2008 scheduled for November, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) informed at a press meet on Tuesday.

“It was a crucial decision because Kuwait was also being considered,” CAN President Binaya Raj Pandey, who participated in the meeting of the ACC Development Committee last week in Pakistan, said. “Questions over facilities at our ground were raised but I assured them of improvement in facilities.”

Pandey also informed that the next edition of ACC U-15 Elite Cup will be played between 12 teams after no teams were relegated after the fiasco that saw eight teams disqualified over age-verification. “ACC will develop a pre-tournament age-verification protocol within a month and no such event will happen in the future events during the tournament,” he added.

Pandey also said that CAN’s plans to ‘emphasise on playing with better teams’ is taking shape after nearing agreement with Bangladesh and positive response from Pakistan. “With Bangladesh, we are finalizing a three-year exchange program,” he said. “While Pakistan has proposed a program for junior, academy and A teams.”

“I also talked with Sri Lankan cricket board president Arjuna Ranatunga, who said he will look into things for supporting Nepali cricket,” Pandey said adding that he was flying to Delhi on Friday to meet Arun Jaitley, a member of BCCI and the president of Delhi District Cricket Association, to look into possibilities of tour programs.

During the program, CAN General Secretary Tanka Paneru said that Bhaktapur would not host any matches of the upcoming Springwood One-Day National League Cricket Tournament. “Engineering Ground, which was initially unavailable, is now available, so it will host two matches scheduled for Bhaktapur,” he said.

Paneru also said that the total budget of the final round of the national league is estimated at Rs 1,050,653. “The players will be paid Rs 300 as daily allowance, a 50 percent increment from the last year,” he said. CAN has also formed an organizing committee under Upendra Bhattarai and three committees for the event – technical (co-ordinator Naresh Shrestha), ground management (co-ordinator Binod Raj Rajbhandari) and press and publicity (co-ordinator Diwakar Ghale).

Meanwhile, Samson Jung Thapa and Raju Khadka left for Lahore, Pakistan for the ACC Level 2 Coaching Course scheduled for March 26-31, CAN said in a release.

National League, strating from April 28

Cricket Association of Nepal has announced the Springwood One-day National League from March 28 to April 6 and April 7 will be the reserve day for the final.

This year’s event will see all teams fighting each other in the round-robin league rather than two groups of three teams format used in past. Three grounds of the Kathmandu Valley – the TU Ground, Laboratory School Ground and Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidyalaya Ground – will host matches.

On the opening day, defending champions Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) meets Region No 6 (Baitadi) at TU while four-time champions Region No 1 (Biratnagar) plays Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) at Lab. Biratnagar and Bhairahawa meets the next day at TU while the remaining two pair for another match at Lab. Three-time finalist Region No 3 (Kathmandu) and 2006 winners Region No 2 plays on March 30 at BSAM.

After the round-robin league, the top two teams will play for the championship. The winners will get Rs 75,000, while the runners up receive Rs 40,000. Man of the series will get Rs 15,000 and the best batsman and bowler will receive Rs 10,000 each.

The players’ daily allowance has been increased to Rs 300 from Rs 200. Springwood of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd is the main sponsor and Standard Chartered Bank is its the co-sponsor. The senior National team will be selected for the ICC World League Division V and the ACC Trophy  from this national league. The Division V tournament will be held in Jersey in May, while the ACC Trophy is slated for July in Malaysia.

दक्षिण एसियाली भ्रमण सुरु हुने

राजेन्द्र ज्ञवाली (कान्तिपुर, 2008-03-12)

काठमाडौं, फागुन २८ – नेपाल क्रिकेट संघ (CAN) ले क्रिकेट विकासका लागि दक्षिण एसियाली राष्ट्रहरूसँग मिलेर विशेष कार्यक्रम थालनी गर्ने भएको छ । त्यसअनुसार नेपालका उमेर समूह र राष्ट्रिय टिमले दक्षिण एसियाली मुलुकको भ्रमण गर्नुका साथै त्यहाँका टिमलाई निम्त्याउनेछ । ‘तीन वर्षम्मका लागि बंगलादेशसँग यो सुरु भइसकेको छ भने अन्य मुलुकसँगको वार्ता पनि अन्तिम टुंगो छ,’ क्यान अध्यक्ष विनयराज पाण्डेले मंगलबार भने।

उनले त्यही कार्यक्रमअनुसार मलेसियामा सम्पन्न युवा विश्वकपअघि नेपाली यू १९ टोलीले बंगलादेश भ्रमण गरेको बताए । ‘त्यही अनुरूप बंगलादेशले पनि आफ्नो युवा टिमलाई निकट भविष्यमै पठाउनेछ ।’

नेपाल विश्वकप क्रिकेटका लागि हुने छनोट खेलको तयारीमा लागेको हुनाले वरिष्ठ खेलाडी सम्मिलित टिम पठाउन अनुरोध गरिएको उनले बताए । कार्यक्रममा नेपालले १७ र १९ वर्षुनिका खेलाडी सम्मिलित टिम साथै राष्ट्रिय टोलीलाई सहभागी गराउनेछ । बंगलादेशले राष्ट्रिय टोलीका स्थानमा ‘ए’ टिम पठाउने पनि पाण्डेले बताए ।

‘टिम पठाउनेबारे बंगलादेशले एक दुइ दिनमै निर्णय गर्नेछ,’ उनले भने । उता त्यस्तै किसिमको कार्यक्रमबारे श्रीलंकासँग पनि भएको सहमति अन्तिम टुंगोमा पुग्न लागेको उनले बताए । श्रीलंका तयार भए बंगलादेशलाई पनि सम्मिलित गर्राई त्रिकोणीय प्रतियोगिता आयोजना गरिने सम्भावना रहेको उनले बताए ।

‘श्रीलंका बोर्ड पनि यस सम्बन्धमा निकै सकारात्मक देखिएको छ,’ पाण्डेले भने । पाकिस्तानसँग वाषिर्क तालिकाअनुसारको कार्यक्रमबारे छलफल भइरहेको जानकारी उनले गराए । ‘यस सम्बन्धमा अन्तिम टुंगो पाकिस्तानमा हुने बैठकमा गरिनेछ,’ मार्च १९ मा पाकिस्तान जाने तयारी गरेका पाण्डेले भने ।

त्यस्तै भारतको हकमा नेपालले त्यहाँका क्षेत्रीय टिमहरूसँग आफ्नो सम्बन्ध विस्तार गर्ने उनले बताए । ‘भारतीय क्रिकेट नियन्त्रण बोर्ड (BCCI) निकै ठूलो एवं व्यस्त संस्था भएको एवं भारतका क्षेत्रीयस्तरका टिमको स्तर पनि राम्रो भएकाले नेपालका लागि तीनै टिमसँग हातेमालो गर्दै गए राम्रो हुने सुझाव आएको छ ।’

निकट भविष्यमा नै भारतीय क्रिकेट अधिकारीहरूलाई भेट्ने कार्यक्रम रहेको बताउदै पाण्डेले भने । बंगलादेशसँगको भ्रमण आदानप्रदानमा जाने आउने खर्च टिमले आफैं बेहोर्ने र बस्नेखाने जिम्मा आयोजक संस्थाले लिने सहमति भएको उनले बताए ।

नेपाली टिम बंगलादेश जाँदा प्रत्येक खेलाडीलाई त्यहाँको बोर्डले दैनिक २५ अमेरिकी डलर उपलब्ध गराएको बताउँ उनले भने, ‘क्यान त्यो खर्च बेहोर्ने स्थितिमा नभएकाले नेपाल आउँदा पनि त्यो जिम्मेवारी उनीहरूलाई लिन अनुरोध गरेका छौं ।’ यो कार्यक्रमले नेपाली क्रिकेटको विकासमा ठूलो सहयोग पुर्‍याउने पाण्डेले बताए ।

‘यसबाट नेपालका उमेर समूहदेखि राष्ट्रिय टोलीसम्म सक्रिय हुनेछन् ।’ नियमित हुने प्रतियोगिताले नेपाली क्रिकेटको स्तर वृद्धि हुनुका साथै खेलले पनि व्यापकता पाउने बताउँदै उनले भने । उता यो कार्यक्रम नेपाली क्रिकेट विकासमा कोसेढुङ्गो सावित हुने विश्वास पूर्वकप्तान एवं क्यान सदस्य पवन अग्रवालले व्यक्त गरे । ‘नियमित रूपमा अन्तर्रराष्ट्रिय टिमसँग हुने खेलले नेपाली क्रिकेटले कमीकमजोरीलाई केलाउँदै त्यसको निराकरण गर्ने अवसर पाउनेछ,’ अग्रवालले भने ।

Nepalese Blind Cricketer’s tour to Pakistan

Now, our Blind Cricketer are under tour to Pakistan to prepare theirselves for first World Cup of its kind. where they are going to play 3 matches with pakistani team. 

In the first their match, according to The Himalayan Post, Nepal lost by nine wickets against hosts Pakistan in the International Blind Cricket Tournament in Bhawalpur on Tuesday. Batting first, Nepal were all out for 137 in 29.1 overs with Kausal Rayamajhi scoring 19 and Bikram 12 runs. In reply, Pakistan surpassed the total in 17 overs losing one wicket. Man of the match Gulam Farid scored unbeaten 60 runs for Pakistan.

मैदान र अभ्यास कमीका कारण नेपाल पराजित : पाण्डे

 बालमुकुन्द नेपाल                                                                                                                                                             नयाँ पत्रिका, काठमाडौं
2008-03-04, Tuesday,  २० फागुन

आइसिसी यू- १९ विश्वकप क्रिकेट प्रतियोगितामा नेपालले गरेको प्रदर्शन सन्तोषजनक रहेको प्रतिक्रिया क्रिकेट संघका अध्यक्ष विनयराज पाण्डेले दिएका छन् । यू- १९ विश्वकप क्रिकेट प्रतियोगिताको अघिल्लो संस्करणमा नेपाल प्लेट च्याम्पियन भएको थियो । तर, हालै सम्पन्न प्रतियोगितामा नेपाल प्लेट उपविजेता मात्र बन्न सक्यो ।

‘वेस्टइन्डिजजस्तो बलियो टोलीसँग पराजित भई उपविजेता हुँदा नेपालको स्तर खस्केको मान्नुहुन्न,’ पाण्डेले नयाँ पत्रिकासँग भने, ‘यसअघि समूह चरणमा श्रीलंका र अस्ट्रेलियाजस्तो टोलीसँग गरेको चुनौतीपूर्ण प्रदर्शनलाई सकारात्मक रूपमा लिनुपर्छ ।’ अघिल्लोपटकको प्लेट विजेता र यसपटक उपविजेता मात्र भएकोलाई तुलना गरेर हेर्न नहुने पनि पाण्डेको कथन छ । ’नेपाली टोलीले खेलेको ‘टफ म्याच’को सराहना गर्नुपर्छ, श्रीलंका र अस्ट्रेलियाविरुद्धको ‘क्रुसियल’ म्याचमा पनि नेपाली टोलीले ‘फाइटिङ स्पिरिट’ देखाएको थियो,’ टोलीको प्रदर्शनमा गर्व गर्दै पाण्डेले थपे, ‘यसअघि नहराएको टेस्ट खेल्ने मुलुक जिम्बाबेलाई पनि त टोलीले पराजित गर्‍यो नि !’ यद्यपि, उनले नेपालको ब्याटिङस्तर नसुध्रेको भने स्विकारे । ‘ब्याटिङमा ‘कि प्लेयर’ ज्ञानेन्द्र मल्ल थिए, तर उनी जम्न सकेनन्,’ सकारात्मक विचार राख्दै पाण्डे भन्छन् ।

उमेर समूहमा आफ्नो छुट्टै छवि बनाए पनि कमजोर ब्याटिङले नेपाललाई अझ अगाडि बढ्न रोकिरहेको छ । राम्रो विकेट भएको क्रिकेट मैदान नहुँदा नेपालले ब्याटिङमा सुधार गर्न नसकेको पाण्डेको विचार छ । यसअघि नेपाली टोलीका श्रीलंकाली प्रशिक्षक रोय डायसले क्रिकेटसम्बन्धी एक वेबसाइटसँगको अन्तर्वार्तामा मैदान नहुँदा नेपाली खेलाडी पछि परेको बताएका थिए । ‘क्रिकेटका अधिकांश खेलाडी उपत्यकाबाहिरका छन् तर, उपत्यकाबाहिर नै क्रिकेट मैदानको अभाव छ,’ पाण्डेले भने, ‘बाहिर ‘म्याटिङ’ विकेटमा खेलिरहेका खेलाडीलाई ‘ग्रास’ विकेटमा खेल्न कठिन हुने गर्दछ ।’ ‘म्याटिङ’ विकेटमा बल अलि फास्ट हुने गर्दछ भने त्यसको तुलनामा ‘ग्रास’मा केही कम । उनले विराटनगर, पोखरा, नेपालगन्जलगायतका स्थानमा रहेका क्रिकेट मैदान पूर्णरूपमा सञ्चालनमा आएपछि त्यसमा केही सुधार आउने बताए । अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय ‘एक्सापोजर’ र म्याच अनुभवका लागि श्रीलंका, भारत, पाकिस्तान र बंगलादेशका क्रिकेट संघसँग मैत्रीपूर्ण खेलका लागि कुरा भइरहेको पनि उनले जानकारी दिए ।

‘बंगलादेशको U19 वा ‘ए’ श्रेणीको टोलीसँगको खेलबाट हाम्रा खेलाडीलाई म्याच अनुभव दिलाउने तयारी अन्तिम चरणमा पुगेको छ,’ पाण्डेले भने, ‘नेपाललाई खेलका लागि उपयुक्त हुने समय मिलाउन तीन वर्षको आफ्नो क्यालेन्डर नै हामीलाई पठाएका छन्, एक-दुई दिनमै उपयुक्त मिति तय गरेर क्यानले बंगलादेशलाई पठाउँदै छ ।’ नेपालजस्तै ‘नन टेस्ट प्लेइङ’ मुलुकको सहभागितामा त्रिकोणात्मक शृंखला सञ्चालनका लागि रोय डायसको माध्यमबाट श्रीलंकामा प्रस्ताव पठाएको पनि पाण्डेले बताए । श्रीलंका क्रिकेट बोर्डका अध्यक्ष नै एसियाली क्रिकेट बोर्डमा समेत रहेकाले डायसको माध्यमबाट क्रिकेट संघले प्रस्ताव पठाएको हो । यसै महिना पाकिस्तानको लाहोरमा हुने डेभलपमेन्ट कमिटीको बैठकमा नेपाली टोलीसँग मैत्रीपूर्ण खेलका लागि पाकिस्तान क्रिकेट बोर्ड र एकेडेमीलाई पनि अनुरोध गरिने तयारी भइरहेको उनले जनाए ।

Creditable show by Paras Khadka’s boys

From The Kathmandu Post, 2008-03-05

By Prem Dhakal

KATHMANDU, March 4 – Nepali U-19 team returned home Sunday from the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia with a 10th place finish which is creditable for an associate country but looking at the performance of the team on the field it should be called underachieved.

This Nepali team may have been well below the previous team led by Kaniska Chaugain, that returned home as Plate champion, ability wise but Paras Khadka and his boys had more than a decent chance of going one up on the predecessors.

Kaniska was in imperious form in 2006 and his team had Sharad Vesawkar, Basanta Regmi and Prem Chaudhary to bolster batting apart from the likes of Paras, Gyanendra Malla and w/k Mahesh Chhetri who shouldered batting responsibility this time around as well.

Yet this team looked poised for glory in the initial stage of the tournament and it was no surprise that the inexperience in batting apart from poor luck pegged it back in the end. Nepal had Sri Lanka in trouble in its first league match in Penang with left-arm seamer Amrit Bhattarai reducing the Lankans to 58-4 and it could have been 58-5 if keeper Mahesh had not dropped Sachith Pathirana off the first ball from Amrit.

The most soothing sight for this scribe in the series was the look of genuine worry in the faces of the Lankan legends like Arjuna Ranatunga and Arvinda de Silva sitting just a couple of feet away. Pathirana made the most of his luck and topscored with 62 to push his team to 236-2 but the champion due managed to smile only after Nepali batsmen fell apart after an opening stand of 62.

“We had chances of beating Sri Lanka and getting into the Super Eights. So, I would consider it a matter of missed opportunity,” skipper Paras reflected after the group stage.

Nepal also did well to restrict Australia to just above 200 after the Aussies got off to a flying start but the comical run out of Mahesh Chhetri off a free-hit after Nepal made 11 in the first over triggered a batting collapse that shoved Nepal out of contention for the Super Eights stage.

Nepal played well after that holding nerves to edge a very good Namibian side twice and hammering Zimbabwe by 99 runs on the back of brilliant new ball bowling by Paras and Amrit after a great exhibition of dominant lower-order batting from Puspa Thapa.

Nepal could have still retained the Plate title with a bit of luck with umpires and a show of some courage from Paras to bowl first in the final against West Indies, which had come to the Plate division from a group that included the eventual finalists India and South Africa.

But to be fair, the boys deserve praise for their show in the event and it was only the failure of star batsman Gyanendra Malla that stopped them short of glory. In fact Nepal could have beaten any team in the event with a reasonable batting show.

“We can not expect to find good batsmen, when the highest scores in the selection event are in the 30s,” Nepali coach Roy Dias complained ruing the loss of Gyanendra’s form owing to injury after good showing in practice matches.

His assistant Jagat Tamata agreed. “We do not have good base for batting. We should start two-day and three-day format from school level to improve batting. The boys have a 35-over mindset and lack temperament to play long innings,” Jagat said adding that the tour was good despite poor batting which had only one fifty from Mahesh in the group stage against Namibia.

Paras was great with his bowling and captaincy and looked good in patches as a batsman. And though cricket is a team game, the bigger disappointment of the decision to bat first in the final was that Paras was unable to get the points required to finish as the player of the tournament due to the batting failure.

Amrit bowled very well with the new ball, young Rahul BK was excellent with his left-arm spin and Pupa Thapa showed glimpses of his potential with the bat. And the boys did all this ‘only’ because of their talent.

Nepal was the least prepared among the 16 nations in the tournament and putting the boys in the camp for one month will not produce miracles. And a little bit of incentive for the players won’t hamper either.

Playing for the love of one’s country sounds great in words but to ask the boys to slog away for a paltry return of eight dollars a day, half of that of 2006, in World Cup is asking for too much. The officials may put forward that clichéd answer of poor financial condition but National Sports Council is not that poor to be unable to raise the players’ allowances as a look at the expenses of its touring officials should show.

Nepal team returns

From The Kathmandu Post

KATHMANDU, March 2 – Nepali U-19 captain Paras Khadka termed the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup performance as satisfactory when the team returned from Malaysia on Sunday. “We were unfortunate as out batting did not clicked during the event,” he said at the airport. “Otherwise, we are satisfied with the performance.” Nepal finished tenth in the 16-team event and won three of six matches.