Consider this: The Wai Wai Women´s National Twenty20 Cricket Tournament concluded at the TU Cricket Ground with Region No 5 defeating Region No 6 in the final. Region No 3 and Region No 4 reached the semifinals of the league-cum-knock-out event that also saw the participation of Region No 1, Region No 2, Region No 7 and Region No 8.
Now, wait a second!
What´s this all Region Nos? Well, for seasoned followers of Nepali domestic cricket, the names represent certain areas that Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has divided regional cricket teams for development works. They are often accompanied by a suffix — a name of a city within the region. Like the winners of the recently held Twenty20 cricket are Region No 5 (Nepalgunj).
CAN, recently, further divided the regions adding to the list two more regions centered around Janakpur and Pokhara. While CAN´s effort of dividing regions to decentralize the efforts to develop cricket is laudable; equally frustrating is the way the teams are referred to in the national tournaments. For someone who is new to the domestic cricket scene, it´s irritating to remember the numbers, but even the ardent fans find it difficult to associate the same feeling of pride to them as they would to a real name.
CAN can do two things to resolve this problem.
First, internally for administrative purpose the numbers could be used, but let the Regional Development Committees discuss and find a name for the team to be represented in national events. It´s maybe worthwhile to give some guidelines for nomenclature such as length of the name and that it should somehow connect with the region. This will primarily attract fans for regional teams or turn viewers from a particular region into a supporter of the cricket team from the same region.
For the regional teams, it also will be helpful in promoting and marketing the domestic tournaments. CAN has still to learn a few things about publicizing tournaments. I hope that they would at least hold a pre-event press conference a few days before the start of any event and provide schedule, information about squads and other details rather than sending out emails some 15 hours ahead of the event.
And second, and a bit complex, concerns the financial independence of the regions in question. It´s not easy, but I sincerely believe, it is achievable and when that´s achieved, it´s extremely beneficial for the cricket of the country.
How can this happen? The first step is allowing regions to find and have sponsors at their level. Maybe a regional team can have a name sponsor — similar to the football teams. If we can have Nabil Three Star Club or Hyundai Manang Marsyandi Club promoting football, we can certainly have ´Mega Kathmandu´ or ´Bajaj Biratnagar´ promoting cricket.
Of course, it would not go down well with the title sponsor of events, for example, Wai Wai of U-19, but at present, if all regions could get a sponsor worth 10 per cent of the title sponsor´s funding and CAN less than half of what they get now, it would be better — more money and more sponsors. The title sponsor can still be retained with the name of the event and national team´s jersey dedicated to them.
Getting sponsor is not easy for all regions and there is bound to be disparities in the sponsorship amount. But, everybody should be prepared for a ruthless step for the sake of development. If a region can not survive on its own, merge it with other region. If all regions fail, CAN can always return to today´s situation. But, on the other hand, if it succeeds, we will have financially strong regions competing for titles. We can look forward to regional tours or triangular series scheduled by regions themselves. A vibrant cricket calendar – and it´s all good for the future of cricket.
It does sound too optimistic, even fanciful, but this is something that should be tried. I might have overlooked many other problems that may arise due to such decisions by CAN. But there are solutions to every problem and people in CAN, better experienced in financial and sports matters, are capable of addressing any problem that may arise in the course of making regions financially independent.
CAN, it´s high time to work out a plan!
(Originally appeared in Republica national daily)