Nepali camp team win series

Post Report

KATHMANDU, May 12 - Nepali camp team defeated the Indian boys from All India Cricket Research Institute team in a friendly match winning the series 2-0 here at University cricket ground Kirtipur, today.

All India Cricket Research Team, after winning the toss elected to bat first, lost its opener when only 31 runs were added to the scoreboard. Number one batsman Aranadev was the only player from Indian side who showed the fighting spirit making 50 runs off 92 balls which included four boundaries and a huge sixer. He did not get any support from the other end as the wicket kept on falling in regular intervals. Rupan Ghose and Sumon Ganguly also contributed 21 runs each which helped the Indians to pile up a score of hundred plus. The Indian boys were all out for 145 runs in 42.2 overs.

Paras Lunia, Jaya Prakash Sarraf and Sanjam Regmi claimed 2 wickets to each, bowled in good line and length, conceded just under three runs per over. Kush Gurung, in his maiden over of the inning, took 1 wicket while Raj Kumar Pradhan also sent one batsman to the pavilion in his full quota of overs.

Nepal started its inning disastrously as the wickets fell in quick succession. The unbeaten eighth wicket partnership of 39 runs between Parash Lunia (20) and Ganesh Shahi (17) proved vital, helped Nepal to clinch the series 2-0. Kiran Agrawal and Nabin Ghimire made useful 21 and 19 runs respectively and 24 extras runs eased Nepal in winning the match by three wickets.

Sayan Bhoumik, A. Sarkar and Pankaj Mandal from Research Institute team snared two wickets each while Babul Goshwami finished with one.

Jay Kumar Nath Shah, president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) awarded the trophy and certificates to the both teams at a function organized after the match.

VC cup cricket - A fresh start or late already?

By Somesh Verma

KATHMANDU, May 12 - When Nepal lost the semi-final match against Hong Kong in the last ACC Trophy, many of the cricket pundits felt that the reason for the tame performance was lack of match practice of the Nepali cricketers.

True, we haven’t had the best of domestic cricket calendar like the English counties or the ‘pick ‘em young’ system prevalent in Australia. However, one feels sad to see that competitive cricket is hardly played at the level where the young lads would develop interest for the game.

Apart from a few tournaments tried out by some individuals or unorganized groups, there has been no significant cricket played at the school or college level. The inter-college tournaments, which have thrown up some big names in cricket history, has been absent in our country, except for a couple of inter-college tournaments played during the mid-eighties (organized locally) among some of the colleges then.

The Vice Chancellor Running Shield cricket tournament, in its second year now, comes as a refreshing change in the cricket scene of Nepal which is dominated by matches played under poor ground conditions. Organized by the Free Students Union of Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, the tournament was a success, in spite of poor facilities for the players, in its first essay.

The VC cup, which is starting on May 13 this year is bound to attract attention among the cricket lovers being the only inter -college cricket tournament in the country at the moment. Participated by 16 teams this year, the championship promises to be a tough draw for the teams in the fray.

As some of the big names in Nepali cricket will be playing this year, the tournament seems to be more or less open. The defending champions Tri-Chandra (TC) Campus, though favourites, will have to fight hard for a place in the final as the teams they face en route look strong on paper. For its second consecutive title TC will be banking on the ability of Monir Shrestha to deliver in due time. Monir, having appeared from Nepal Commerce Campus last year, will play for TC this year.

Apart from TC, Tribhuvan University (TU) team - the runners-up last year, Nepal Commerce Campus (semi-finalists in the last episode) and Shanker Dev Campus also look good enough to pocket the title.

TU team, having quite a number of players from the team which made it to the final last year, look good this year. Some of the players in the team were also a part of the University team which played in the Jai Trophy this year, which is expected to have made a positive effect on their performance. Moreover, they will be playing in their homeground, an obvious advantage over their opponents in every match. The TU players also have a couple of stint with the newly acquired bowling machine of CAN, which can deliver the balls upto 100 miles an hour - something no bowler in cricket history has done.

Nepal Commerce Campus (NCC), Min Bhavan, also has a strong team and looks able to defeat any single team on its day. Though they will be missing Monir Shrestha this year, they still have Monish -best batsman last year. He will be supported by Vikrant Chhetri and Maheshwor Shrestha - familiar names for the club cricket followers. NCC would definitely like to erase the bad memories of last year when they were involved in a controversy involving Tri-Chandra in the semis. The controversy had led the match to be played over two days. Monish Shrestha, during the row, had fixed a stump in the middle of the pitch. However, he got away as the rules of the tournament were not enough to punish him.

Another strong title contenders, Shanker Dev Campus, will also like to erase memory of their last year’s performance. Last year, despite being dubbed as the strongest team, they lost to TC during the quarter-final match. A lot will be expected from the captain Paras Joshi if the team has to win.

Campion College, last year’s semi-finalists looks a depleted side as most of the players from its last endeavor are not around. With a bit of luck and performance at the right time, who knows? They might surprise many (Last year many were ‘surprised’ to see them reach semis).

The tournament may be set to provide good entertainment to the spectators, but what about its recognition by Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN)? Although CAN will provide technical support during the whole tournament, the matches are not likely to be kept in records for evaluation of the players. Shashi Pandey, treasurer of CAN says, "Everybody comes to us when they are organizing a tournament, but they hardly ever supply us the score sheet - which may give us some information about the players’ performance." He further adds, "This is true for all the matches, whether it is club level, school level or college level."

Is there a solution to this? How long the players will have to wait till their performance in all the tournaments be counted? Damodar N Suwal, Joint Secretary of CAN has a probable answer to this, "Probably we will have to send observers in all the matches played in Nepal."

Till then, the players have to sweat and let be content with the names in newspapers in the tournaments like this. And for the winners of the VC Cup cricket - let’s wait till the final is played on the 28th.