Earlier, players had to undertake month-long closed-camp training and they were unable to remain fit, but the long spell of training this time around has kept them at top form.

However, monsoon has been disrupting their regular practice for the Division 4 tournament scheduled for August 14 in Italy.

“We are well prepared in terms of fitness, but the rain has been disrupting our practice sessions. However, we still have three weeks and we expect better,” said Roy Luke Dias, the Sri Lankan Coach for Nepal.

Nepali players are busy in the game since last November as they are playing tournaments regularly.

Nepal played the ACC T20 Cup in UAE in November and won the Pepsi World Cricket League Division 5 on home ground in February.

Likewise, they participated in the domestic T20 and One-Day tournaments along with practice matches, which probably has helped a lot in maintaining their fitness.

According to Dias, Nepali players´ victory in the Division 5 tournament at home has boosted their morale. “After the victory, players´ attitude has changed. They now understand their role in the team better,” said Dias.

“Take for instance Mehboob Alam. He knows he has to play a big role for the team. Players are working hard and I can feel this is the best team,” said Dias. Dias said Nepali team is flying to Italy to claim the title while a final berth will be their minimal target.

The winners and the runners-up of the tournament will be promoted to Division 3, which will be held in Hong Kong in January 2011.

The ultimate goal for the six sides is to reach the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in 2013 and compete for a place in the 2015 World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand. The bottom two sides will be relegated to Division 5 ready for the next cycle, which will begin after the 2015 World Cup.

The Division 4 tournament scheduled to be held in the Italian province of Bologna will see six teams from five continents to make the tournament a special one. Asian representatives Nepal will take on hosts Italy (Europe), the US and the Cayman Islands (North America), Argentina (South America) and Tanzania (Africa).

All opponents, except for the US and Italy, are new to Nepal. Nepal defeated the US in the final of Division 5 held in Nepal on February 20-29 having lost to the same side in the league round of the tournament. Nepal and the US have qualified for Division 4 as the Division 5 winners and runners-up.

Nepal and the US have had four previous meetings, where Nepal have won 2, lost one while a match was washed out. On the other side, Nepal had pulled off an 88-run victory against Italy in their one and only encounter in 2005.

Though Nepal are aiming for the title, astro-turf (artificial) pitch in Bologna could be their Achilles´ heel. Dias, thus, cited astro-turf as a reason for including six seamers in the team excluding two batsmen.

“Toss does not play a role in astro-turf. It produces uneven bounce and ball sometimes bounces chest-high,” said Dias. “Batsmen should be aware of the bounce and as grounds in Italy are small, bowler should be conscious,” added Dias.

However, captain Paras Khadka opined that they should not bother much about the astro-turf as they are heading to play Division 4 in Italy.

“The US and Singapore had complained about our wickets during Division 5. We will also complain about the wicket but that is not our aim for the tournament,” said Khadka.

“We are going to Italy to secure a final berth and then to fight for the title. We should not only hope to win but should be determined for it,” added Khadka.

Although, major events are held on natural turf, the event from August 14 to 21 will be held on the astro-turf as the hosts do not have the natural turfs. “This is shocking,” Binaya Raj Pandey, the president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), said.

Nepali players have not played on astro-turf. “We do not play regularly in astro-turf. We do have such pitch but we are using them only for practice matches,” added Pandey. “Only Middle East nations use astro-turf in Asia.”

Despite the tradition of playing major tournaments in turf, ICC also has the provision of playing in astro-turf. “We could have complained about it if it was the first time, but ICC had conducted Division III and few other tournaments in astro-turf. Now, we are requesting ICC for training in countries with astro-turf facilities,” said Pandey.

Following the ICC decision, Nepal have to revise all their training and practice schedules for the tournament. Nepali team has started practicing in astro-turf at the TU Cricket Ground since the last three days.

Nepal are also revising their foreign tours schedule before the tournament. CAN President Pandey said that Nepal will tour Sri Lanka but other countries have not yet been fixed. He claimed every participating nation would face difficulties in astro-turf.

The ICC decision has surprised coach Roy Luke Dias and captain Paras Khadka. “We have expected bounce and grace in Italian pitches but now have started practicing in astro-turf,” said Dias. “However, as we got the information two months prior to the tournament, we can heave a sigh of relief.”

“As I have played in the Netherlands four years ago, I understand that fast bowlers use rubber shoes instead of spikes, and our players are likely to find it strange,” said Dias.

Nepal, who have been performing well relying on their spinners on previous occasions, will certainly not be able to bank on them this time. However, captain Khadka demanded calm and balanced performance from the players and said, “If we maintain our cool, the astro-turf will not affect our performance”.

“Experienced player like Binod Das and Dipendra Chaudhary have played a few matches in astro-turf in Canada in 2001. Their experience will count in Italy,” said Khadka.

Nepal, Italy, the US, Cayman Islands, Tanzania and Argentina are participating in the Pepsi World Cricket League Division-4. Nepal and the US had booked their Division-4 berths after finishing in the top two positions of the Division -5 tournament held in Kathmandu last February.

Paresh, 30, informed Cricket Association of Nepal about his inability to participate in the six-nation event to be held in Kathmandu from February 20-30.

“I can not attend the closed-camp training due to my personal reasons and I don’t think it’s fair to contend for a position in the national team without training,” Paresh told Cricket Nepal on phone. “So I decided to pull out.”

The closed-camp training began on January 3.

Paresh is the leading run-scorer for the country in one-day and multi-day internationals. He has scored 824 runs in 15 multi-day matches with two centuries – both against Singapore in 2005.

With 811 runs in 44 one-day international matches for the country, the opener is atop the list of Nepali batsman.

At national level, he made his name scoring back-to-back centuries in bowling dominated Jai Trophy national league in 2000 and 2002 for Kathmandu. In the inter-region Birendra Memorial National League, which replaced inter-district Jai Trophy, he is second on the list behind Mehboob Alam.

The Kathmanduite debuted in 2000 ACC Trophy in UAE. Paresh has also had a brief stint as a captain leading Nepal against Hong Kong in a three-day match in 2005.

Meanwhile, CAN has asked Sharad Vesawkar to submit a health report for considering him for the closed-camp training. Earlier, he was excluded from the team of 18 for his ‘poor health and form’.

Raj Kumar will work and play for Qatar Al Hasan Becker for the next two years.

According to Pradhan, his contract should be renewed every year. As per the contract he should play cricket every Friday and Saturday, while he should work for rest of the five days for the company. He will receive Rs 30,000 per month for his service.

“If I could perform well for the company I´ll get extra incentives”, said Pradhan.

“I was under pressure from my family and I chose the option to migrate to Qatar.” He added, “So far as I´m concerned, other players also have similar condition, therefore, I request Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) to think about players”.

He quit the camp after informing Coach Roy Dias and CAN.

Ten years ago, Raj Kumar had served in Qatar for three years. Raj Kumar said that the company was impressed by his performance during his international career.

In his early career, Raj Kumar was top order batsman and medium-pacer but after his return from Qatar he turned into leg-spinner and lower order batsman. In the meantime, he had played for Morang in the last edition of the Jai Trophy, where he was nominated as the best bowler.

As he impressed selection committee by his performance, he was picked for the national team in 2001 to play in the ICC Trophy held in Canada. However, Canada didn´t provide him the visa.

In 2002 he was picked in the national squad to play ACC Trophy in Singapore. He was one of the important players to take Nepal in the final of the tournament. Raj Kumar had taken 3 wickets in the semifinal of the tournament to beat Malaysia.

After the tournament, Raj Kumar had played 31 ODIs and took 35 wickets at an average of 18.51. Likewise, he took 36 wickets in three-day internationals at an average of 21.61. Raj Kumar had two 5-wickets haul in three-day internationals.

(As published in Republica)

The committee will later announce the names of the 14 players along with the captain.

Despite wondering on the issue of change in captaincy, the committee is still undecided on replacing Binod Das. Under Binod, Nepal failed to proceed beyond semifinals in the two international tournaments played last year. After the failure, the committee had hinted that it would replace the skipper.

In the last year’s Division -5 tournament held in Jersey, Nepal was confined to the third place which shattered Nepal’s hope to play in the 2011 World Cup. Likewise, Nepal remained fourth in the ACC Trophy held in Malaysia where UAE had shattered Nepal’s dream to play Asia Cup.

Binod is leading Nepal for last four years. He had replaced Paresh Lohani in 2005 from the World Cricket League Division-2 selection tournament. Except the victory in ACC Premier League 3-days cricket tournament in 2006, Nepali national team has not put up any remarkable show under Binod.

If selection committee replaces Binod from his role, vice-captain Parash Khadka is likely to take over the mantle. According to a CAN source, because of lack of more options the committee could not replace Binod while announcing the names of the 18-member team.

“Captain may be named later,” the source said. After the failure of national team in Malaysia, Binod had expressed his desire to quit the job but the issue was undecided as Nepal didn’t play any international tournament afterward.

It was learned that some CAN members are against replacing the captain before the World Cricket League Division 5 in February in Nepal.

Gurung accompanied world number one umpire Simon Taufel in the match. Taufel, whom ICC adjudged world’s best umpire since 2004, was in Singapore as tournament inspector but later decided to play his role as field umpire in the match.

Gurung is first Nepali player-turn-umpire. He was a member of the Nepali national team during the first ACC Trophy 1996 played in Malaysia and played in two matches.

Gurung started umpiring this year from ACC U-17 Elite Cup held in Kathmandu.

“We were excited after learning that Taufel will be umpiring along with him in the match.” Raman Shiwakoti, a Nepali umpire in Kathmandu said recalling his talk with Gurung the previous night. “Sanjay only knew he will get the opportunity to umpire along with Taufel after he reached Singapore, this is historic day for Nepali umpires.”

Apart from Gurung, Vinay Kumar Jha and Buddhi Bahadur Pradhan, a member of ICC Associate and Affilate Umpire Panel, is also officiating in the event. Pradhan was the third umpire in the match that his ideal Taufel umpired.

Pradhan, who umpired in 12 one-day international cricket matches so far, too hasn’t got a chance to share the honor with Taufel in the field. “This is a lucky coincidence” said Shiwakoti.

Pradhan has shared the honor with John Hampshire in the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)’s match against Nepal and with Daryll Hair in an ODI between Scotland and Canada.

The door for Nepali citizens to play their role in the field opened only after advance umpiring course held in Nepal in 2004. And, Nepali umpires are doing well. Last week Shiwakoti and another Nepali cricket umpire Himal Raj Giri secured first two positions in ACC Level-2 course in Qatar.

Jha officiated the match between Guernsey and Singapore to make his debut in the ICC event.

Taufel, who first umpired in test cricket at the age of 29, is now 39 years old. His one unfulfilled dream is to umpire in the world cup final match. Australia reached in the final of the previous four world cup final preventing Taufel´s chance. Gurung, a resident of Bhairahawa, has an aim to reach into Associate Panel. Lots of umpires of associate nations share the same dream.

Buddhi Bahadur Pradhan, Binaya Jha and Sanjay Gurung will officiate in the tournament that is a part of the 2015 World Cup with top two teams moving to Division 5 to be held in Nepal January next year. The Division 6 is scheduled from August 29 to September 5.

Hosts Singapore, Botswana, Norway, Malaysia, Bahrain and Guernsey are competing in the tournament. The latter two are the team promoted from WCL Division 7 playing in May.

Umpire Jha said: “ICC selected Nepali umpires as per Asian Cricket Council´s recommendation. ACC was always confident about our capabilities, now we have to prove to ICC that we are capable.”

Along with Jha, Pradhan and Manohar Adhikari are ICC-affiliated associate Asia Panel umpires. Pradhan, who is also ICC-affiliated International panel umpire, has umpired 13 one-day international matches.

“This is an historic moment for me.” Gurung said adding that he aimed to enter ICC Associate panel.

Lack of financial resources has hampered the plan. The plain created out of hillocks was already being used for cattle grazing and driving practice. There were even encroachments in the land provided to Cricket Association of Nepal by National Sports Council.

Bandula Warnapura visits Mulpani. Photo: Dipesh Shrestha/myrepublica.com

Bandula Warnapura, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) development manager, told this author pointing to people learning motorcycle, “at least people are learning something here.” He too was enthusiastic about the ground.

Warnapura believes having two standard grounds in Kathmandu will help Nepal get more international events and that it will bring economic benefits to the country. Nepal has missed out opportunities to organize international events as TU Cricket Ground in Kiritipur is the only standard cricket field in Kathmandu.

ACC has already granted CAN US$ 100,000 for construction of the ground. The foundation stone was laid in 2007 when the ACC Development Committee met in Kathmandu. At the ceremony, ACC chief executive Syed Ashraful Haq and the then development manager Sultan Rana had promised of more financial support once the works began.

Warnapura too repeated same words. “ACC money should be used transparently,” he said. “Once the construction starts, ACC will declare the support amount.” As the construction was delayed, ACC shun away from giving any event for 2009. The ACC U-17 Elite Cup was postponed event that was originally scheduled for 2008.

Nepal Government recently released Rs. 10,000,000 for infrastructure development and CAN is using that money for Mulpani. Nearly 360 ropanis of land is allocated for the ground.

“The construction starts as soon as tender is opened,” CAN president Binaya Raj Pandey said. “We will construct ground on the first phase and then a small pavilion and a changing room.”

Three A class construction companies have applied for the construction works.

The world cup sponsors and television companies have also threatened to withheld the payment as ICC failed to persuade India to make their players to sign the controversial players contracts.

The cricket minnows have paid the price as they were hoping some competive cricket to develop their cricketing skills. The prospect of losing the money has prompted the ICC to shelve plans for the series, which was supposed to include the 27 affiliate members and 47 associates.

“ICC has sent a letter confirming the cancellation of the series,” said Tarak Mani Dixit, the spokesperson of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). Dixit also told NepalCricket that the decision has hard hit Nepal, an associate member of ICC.

“It would certainly affect our cricket, we have already selected 35 probables for the series,” said Dixit. “We have planned to send our team either of three test playing neighbours for practice matches. We have also planned for few practice matches in England, before flying to Los Angeles, where the Group B qualifying was slated to be held.”

“Unfortunately, the series has been cancelled,” Andrew Eade, the ICC’s development manager told the international media. “The ICC Trophy, which involves non-test nations, will still be played, but we will now have to explore alternative avenues for these teams.”

Eade insisted that the nations made the decision to scrap the event, because the grants available were greatly reduced. “We thought there was sufficient funding,” he said, “but in hindsight we should have known the possible implications from the World Cup.”

“This is not a positive development for nations below Test status or cricket in general, but we will continue to look at other initiatives to allow these teams to play more,” said Eade.

ICC has also scrapped its grant to the association members. “ICC has decreased the grant of US$60,000 to US$40,000,” confirmed Dixit.

The decision to withheld the WCQS, formally annouced in 25 days earlier, would not benefit the cricket anyway, but who cares, including ICC, for cricket? Everyone is after money.

National vice-captain Binod Das, all-rounder Bardan Chalise and opener Paresh Lohani will receive crickets kit equivalent to Rs. 35,000 each year under the contract, according to Nirmal Kumar Rajbhandari, of New Sports Line, the authorized distributor of Balbro goods in Nepal. The players would have to use the clothing and kits provided by Balbro while playing.

Rajbhandari added that the company is also planning to provide the cricketers with some pocket money whenever they play international tournaments. He also said that Balbro is also looking for other good players to sign them the similar contract.

Paresh and Bardan have already signed the contract while Binod is yet to sign. Paresh and Bardan, both resident of Kathmandu, expressed their happiness and hoped that such contract would help cricket to take professional shape.

Middle order batsman Shakti Gauchan is the first cricketer to sign such contract. Shakti signed a similar contract with SS Company of India last year. He got the goods equivalent to Rs. 25,000 through the contract. SS is also trying to sign U-15 hero Sarad Veshwakar.

Binod, of Kalaiya Cricket Club, is the most experienced international cricketer of Nepal. He has already played 13 international, 13 U-19 and 4 U-17 matches for Nepal. He has captained Nepal U-19 that won the Youth Asia Cup and reached the plate final of Youth World Cup during 2001/02.

Bardan, who was deputy to Binod in the team, received man of the match award in Nepal’s famous win against Bangladesh and Pakistan in Youth World Cup in New Zealand. Paresh who scored a fifty against UAE in the final of Fourth ACC Trophy 2002 in Singapore is the only batsman to score head-to-head century in national championship.