Six cricketers to play in three different leagues Half a dozen cricketers are set to leave the country this week to sharpen their skills. The first ones to leave are vice-captain Gyanendra Malla and left-arm spinner Basanta Regmi. The duo are leaving for Canada on Friday to play in the league there. Malla will play for Ontorio Academy in the ‘A’ Division League, while all rounder Regmi will play for GTA Sports Club which are in ‘B’ Division. The league runs for six months but the duo will return after two months to participate in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup which will be held from August 17-25 in Singapore. “This is exactly the kind of exposure I was looking for,” Malla said on the eve of his departure. “Until now we have been practicing only within our squad and now we will be playing with players from different countries which will be a good learning opportunity for us.” He also added that it would be a very good preparation for the Emerging Teams Cup, which comprises U-23 players from four Asian Test playing nations. Nepal are pooled in Group A along with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to Malla, apart from the Canadians, there will be a lot of players from Sri Lanka and West Indies in the league and it will help him understand the gentleman’s game even better. “Our main target are the two World Cup Qualifiers in November and January. For that, the Emerging Teams Cup is a perfect tournament to test our ability as we will be testing the might of pretty strong teams from now on. And I am hoping to gather enough experience in Canada to do well in the upcoming tournaments.” Basanta also takes this as a challenge for him to do well as be believes his performance there will stand as a litmus test for other Nepali players to play there in future. “It is definitely a good opportunity for me playing cricket in a different level and environment which I believe will make me a more matured cricketer. I am also taking it as a challenge to do better so that it opens the door for more players to play there.” Last season skipper Paras Khadka had played from Ontario Club for three months and came back as a better player. These two players are also hoping to do the same in the next two months. They will play during the weekends and train in weekdays. Their expenses will be looked after by their respective clubs. Khadka, who was also scheduled to play this season, has decided not to go as he is nursing a shoulder injury. He had torn the ligament of his right shoulder during the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 in Bermuda. Two other cricketers Binod Bhandari and Pradeep Airee are expecting to obtain their passport with Sri Lankan visa any day and are ready to leave for the U-23 inter-club cricket league. The league is played in a two-day format and both Airee and Bhandari are hoping to improve their batting in the two months time they spend there. “This is a good chance for us to learn a lot from the youngsters from Test playing nation. This is a good preparation for the Emerging Teams Cup,” they said. “We hope to improve our batting by playing long innings in the two-day format, which is new for us,” they added. Last year Amrit Bhattarai and Chandra Sawad had played there but they had returned back without staying the entire duration. These two opportunities were set by coach Pubudu Dassanayake. Likewise, Naresh Budhayer and Rajesh Pulami are other two cricketers awaiting their visa for England. These two have been selected by the Marylebone Cricket Club—the oldest cricket club—to train in their youth programme for six weeks. The training will begin on June 11 and they too have their bags packed to leave the moment they get their visas. “This is a matter of a great pride for me to train in the oldest cricket club where cricketers like Ross Taylor had trained,” Budhayer said on Thursday. “I hope to grasp as much as I can in those six weeks as this is an once in a life time opportunity,” said Budhayer. Cricket Association of Nepal had sent videos of a few promising cricketers to MCC for the youth programme out of which the duo were selected. This is the best exposure the nation has got as far as cricket is concerned.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 02:57:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015