NATIONAL 9 (Spotlight Weelky)]

Great Expectations

Nepal's Under 19 team leaves for the tournament in New Zealand

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Cricket is the only group event in which Nepal has been able to send a team to a world cup-level tournament.

Even in cricket, it is the Under 19 team of the country that has fared twice in the World Cup, first in 2000 in Sri Lanka and now in New Zealand.

A 17-member Nepalese squad left for New Zealand this week to participate in the Under 19 World Cup Cricket Tournament to be held from January 14 to February 9. Sixteen teams are participating in the tournament, including the ten Test playing nations: India, Pakistan, England, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the West Indies.

The remaining six teams were selected from among the best in the respective regions. Nepal could take part in the tournament after it lifted the Youth Asia Championship Trophy last October held in Kathmandu. It had beaten Malaysia in the final of the match.

In the New Zealand tournament, Nepal is placed in the slot that includes Pakistan, England and Papua New Guinea (PNG). As only two of the teams can proceed to the second round, Nepal faces stiff challenge. Pakistan and England are Test-playing nations with strong teams.

In the 2000 World Cup (U-19) held in Sri Lanka, Nepal managed to proceed to the second round after it defeated Kenya and shared points with Pakistan and South Africa, thanks to rain-washed matches. During that World Cup, Nepal was the only non-Test playing nation that could proceed to the second round. Even in the second round, Nepal had given a tough fight to England by managing to chase up to 196 runs against the English total of 240 then.

Similarly, in the Under 17 tournament held last year in Bangladesh, Nepalese youngsters had limited Pakistan to a total of 164 runs and had posed a serious threat to them. PNG has been selected from the Asia-Pacific region and many believe it will not pose much of an obstacle to Nepal.

Though cricket has been played in the country for the last many decades, it was only after the restoration of democracy that it caught the media's attention. In the last decade, the popularity of the game rose astronomically, leading to the emergence of young breed of highly talented cricketers.

Nepal remains the only country that boasts of its own cricketers in the national squad. Otherwise, whether it be the team of UAE or Kenya or Canada, there are many players whose origin can be traced to the Indian subcontinent. It was this reason, cricket-watchers believe, why the visiting officials from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) decided to consider Nepal's request for housing the ACC Training Center in Pokhara despite their almost-finalized decision to award it to the UAE.

They were clearly impressed by Nepal's victory in the October tournament despite the country's exclusive dependence on national players, many say.

After Nepal got the associate membership of International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1996, the U-19 World Cup in New Zealand is the 11th international cricket tournament the country is participating in. Among these 11 tournaments, the national team has played in 4, U-19 team in 5 and U-17 team in 2 tournaments. Against such a backdrop, the expectations from the Nepalese squad are clearly very high.

An Overview Of Nepalese Squad

1. Kanishka Chaugain ó A highly talented and rapidly rising star, plays as opening batsman.

2. Yashwanta Subedi ó Another opener.

3. Bardan Chalise ó Up-and-coming all-rounder, he is the vice-captain.

4. Shakti Gauchan ó A boy who got his education (and cricketing skills) from India, he caught everybody's attention by hitting a century against the Maldives last October in the Youth Asia Championship held in Kathmandu. A genuine all-rounder.

5. Basudev Thapa ó Middle order batsman.

6. Binod Das ó Most experienced of all. Skipper and talented all-rounder. Effective pace bowler.

7. Manjit Shrestha ó An all-rounder with a knack for clean hitting.

8. Sanjam Regmi ó Genuine off-spinner.

9. Manoj Katuwal ó Wicket keeper.

10. Lakpa Lama ó Leg-spinner, was declared man of the series in October's Youth Asia Cup Championship by taking 15 wickets in the tournament.

11. Pramod Basnet ó Pace bowler.

Extras: Basanta Regmi, Rohit Sharma and Prem Chaudhary.

Coach: Roy Dias, former national player of Sri Lanka.