Nepal aim to climb their Everest

In many ways, the World Cup is bigger news in the lesser-known cricketing nations. This was well demonstrated today with two journalists from Nepal covering the clash against England, while there are also journalists from Uganda, Ireland and Scotland covering their countries. And they are only the ones I know about.

My knowledge of the Nepalese players was somewhat lacking at the start of the match – and it wasn’t helped by first names appearing on the backs of some shirts, compared to surnames on the scoreboard. So I bent the ear of the reporter from the Kathmandu Post, and enjoyed an enlightening conversation about the rise of their cricket.

It has now become the No. 2 sport in the country, still trailing football by some distance but rapidly gaining ground. During the Afro-Asia Cup qualifying tournament, which Nepal won to earn themselves a place in this World Cup, between 15,000 and 20,000 fans turned up for the final. This was at a ground with no seating and little crowd control. Apparently the awards ceremony at the end was held up by a crowd invasion as the coach was lifted into the air in triumph.

The recent rapid rise of cricket in Nepal is emphasised by the story of their opening bowling Amrit Bhattarai. He is just 15-years-old, so has the chance of emulating Kanishka Chaugai, his captain, by playing in three World Cups. But the more amazing fact is that he has only been playing cricket for 18 months – now he is opening the bowling for his country. Talk about fast-tracking. A number of the U-19 squad have also already represented the full Nepal side, and their problem is creating a large enough pool of players to pick from.

I chatted briefly to Roy Dias, their coach for five years, following the match, and he said he was proud of the effort show by his team, but disappointed they couldn’t get closer to England. “It is very disappointing, because we dropped a few catches and that cost us important runs. But it was still a good score to chase and we got a nice start with Kanishka batting well, but sadly he pulled his hamstring and that altered our rhythm. Then we lost three wickets on run outs, that’s a crime. You can get out, just not run out.”

These lessons will be learned in time, especially if the enthusiasm and commitment that was evident today continues to spread. The raw ingredients are there, now comes the hard work.