Bob Simpson goes and Haroon Rashid arrives as Nepal gears up for Under 19 World Cup debut (5 Dec 1999)

5 December 1999

Bob Simpson goes and Haroon Rashid arrives as Nepal gears up for Under 19 World Cup debut

Nepal's build-up for the World Under 19s Youth Cup has received a boost with news that former Pakistan Test batsman, Haroon Rashid, will visit Kathmandu to help with the team's training.

(By the way the article from Bob Simpson promised in last fortnight's edition is most likely to appear in the next edition of `Beyond The Test World' in two week's time).

Mr. Jai Kumar Nath Shah, reviews the Nepalese squad's preparation so far:

With just over a month remaining for Nepal's first ever World Cup tournament --Youth-Under-19 World cup, beginning January 11 Nepal's preparation is reaching final stage.

The Under 19 cricketers have been relieved of a grueling month of close camp during, which period they had the privilege of meeting players of likes of Bob Simpson, the former Test Cricketer from Australia, who showed satisfaction over Nepal's preparation for the mega championship.

The second phase of close camp is beginning in few days time which will lead up to the Youth World Cup. A kind of rest was given to put the players in a better frame of mind for the punishing tour ahead of them, said Basu Dev Pradhan, Vice President of Cricket Association of Nepal.

Pradhan also informed that the selection committee has given special attention to the player's allround capability and the team includes as many as six all-rounders.

Nepal performed beyond expectation in the Youth Asia World Cup where Nepal's victory march was only ended in the final when it went down to Bangladesh, the current ICC champions. The critics believed that had Nepal posted even a total of 170 or so the game could have been won.

Nepal was bundled out for 125 and then dropped five crucial catches to lose the final. The Bangladesh bowlers had well and truly exposed the absence of genuine batsmen in Nepal's batting line up.

The selectors this time have seriously considered this aspect as well, said Pradhav and has included four genuine batsmen in the line up while some of the all-rounders like Unil Shrestha and Dipendra Chaudhary are better known for their batting skills.

Nepal, it seems, has built up a best possible team, but the real strength will be tested in the youth World Cup where unfortunately, they have been pooled in the "most difficult group" along side Pakistan, South Africa and Kenya.

Though officials and cricket experts do not sound very optimistic about Nepal's chances in the tournament, they are hopeful that the young boys will bring in enough experience to cash in on in the future. "Playing a tournament of this magnitude is in itself a big achievement. Nevertheless, it's cricket, you never know,"says Jai Kumar Shah, President of Cricket Association of Nepal.

Shah is of the opinion that the teams experience will do them a world of good and Nepal in fact, will have a national team in the days ahead with players having World Cup experience under their belt. The Nepalese cricket coaches also believe that the boys will not enter into any game feeling any pressure of playing against big names.

Coming to teams formation, Nepal has included four batsmen - Uttam Kumar (Rupendehi), Kalamuddin Ansari (Parsa), Kiran Agrawal (Sunsari), and Sandeep Shrestha (Saptari), six all-rounders - Dipendra Chaudhry (Saptri), Unil Shretha (Morang), Raju Basnet (Vice-Captain) (Kathmandu), Paras Lunia (Morang) and Virendra Shah (Kathmandu), Ajay Ramdam (Rupandehi) and three bowlers ( all fast medium)- Binod Das (Captain) (Bara), Amir Akhtar (Kathmandu) and Mehboob Alam (Saptari) while Manoj Baishya (Dang) is the wicket keeper Batsman. The two reserves are Anil BK (Rupendhi) and Sameer Thakur (wicket keeper bat).

Apart from Dipendra Chaudhry, Unil Shretha, Virendra Shah and Ajay Ramdam, the allrounders who will bowl medium fast bowling the inclusion of Vice Captain Raju Basnet and Pars Lunia, both of whom will bowl left arm leg spin will add variety to Nepalese attack, says Arun Aryal, Nepal's chief coach.

Altogether 16 teams divide into four groups (four teams each) will participate in the tournament. Two teams from each group will make it to the super league stage where two teams will be formed and fourfinalist will be selected.

Teams not making into the super league will have to battle it out in the plate championship, which will also have two groups leading up to the semi-finals and finals to decide all standings."