Busy

Hello All,

I would be kept busy and would not be able to write articles till January next year. This does not mean I will stop writing. Some time I have to give to settle my life. I would definite start back when this mission get's over with. Keep visiting and commenting here.

Thanks
Jashan

Review of ACC Emerging - Nepal

To start with the announcement that ACC Emerging would be a biennial tournament is a welcome decision. It will give the emerging Associate teams of Asia a very good exposure against good teams. Ideally the teams could have been part of Asia Cup, but it's better to have one bird in hand than two in the bush.

For the Nepal team it was perhaps the first time when they faced such a quality opposition. It should be perhaps a reflection of the opposition they will have to face regularly if they hope to get ODI status. But unfortunately they were placed in a oddly formed group of death. I do not know how ACC formed these groups. As per me the groups based on seeding should have been

Group A:- Ind U23, Bd U23, Afg, Sp
Group B:- SL U23, Pak U23, UAE, Nep

Anyhow Nepal had perhaps all the 3 top teams in it's group and a very big challenge to overcome. To start with they put up a very spirited performance against Afghanistan and perhaps dominated for 90% of the match but in the end sadly lost by 3 runs. It was the experience and temperament gained with it that lost them that match. The loss took such a toll that they were pretty much thrashed in the next 2 matches.

So what are the positives and negatives that the tournament offered. For the positives perhaps it is the exposure that team gained. Till now the team has been playing the likes of teams in Div 5 to Div 3 with weak teams like Mozambique to stronger ones like USA. But even the likes of USA and Uganda are no match to quality of India or Pakistan U23. This exposure will give each player an aspect to reflect upon and work on it. The coach can also make players work harder reflecting them on their weaknesses.
Secondly some individual good performances by Paras, Basant, Sagar & Subash would give a boost to morale of these players and give them confidence for upcoming matches. These were after all performances against some very quality sides.
Thirdly the overall tour of Sri Lanka and Singapore was able to give the coach the time and matches to experiment some younger players and different combination. The presence of quality opposition were the real test of the players

However the Negatives far outweigh the Positives. Firstly in the whole tournament reflected how the team lost it's self confidence. After the first match which did not go in their way, afterwards the team seemed to have lost morale and could not regain it in rest of the tournament. The big tournament is infact half mind games. You have the lows and then you have to bounce back. Except of few individual the team effort looked missing
Secondly the team failed in all aspects. Batting was a bigger let down as it failed in all 3 matches. Bowling also was pretty ordinary against the test teams. With such performances Nepal cannot hope to challenge the likes of Netherlands or Scotland it faces in future.
Finally it should be a realization of difference in the level between it and top teams which needs to be plugged for future. The team surely needs to work all areas especially building partnerships and rotating strikes & fast strike bowling.

So the next question comes what should be the future coarse. Is all the hope lost. No not at all. The team surely has the potential to be playing both 2014 World T20 and 2015 World Cup. However for that to happen the team needs to have a structure plan

1. The coach needs to work hard on the mental strength of the team which will help them to keep cool in the matches and also if required bounce back in tournament. As the level of competition will be much harder the bounce back will require much harder mental strength than what it was required in ICC WCL Div 3. If need be some experts can take some sessions with the team. This is an area which is usually ignored but very crucial.

2. Batting is the area that the team will have to work upon. For that if CAN can get some batting experts for two months, 1 month before T20 qualifier and 1 month before WCQ will be greatly helpful. The team has potential as shown by Paras, Subash and Sagar, but it would be building partnerships, running between wickets, working on technique that are more crucial than individual brilliance that is the need of the hour.

3. Pace Bowling is the Achilles heel of Nepal. The WCQ is in NZ and WC is also in Aus and NZ. In these places without a good pace strike bowling is huge disadvantage. Nepal's traditional strength of spinners can be easily blunted there. The young pacers of Sawad and Karn have shown some hope but much more needs to be done. These 2 along with the veteran Binod Das need to be given bigger exposure. They can be perhaps sent to NZ or Eng for some advanced training and getting acclimatized to the conditions there.

4. More quality exposure is key. The team got a good exposure in SL and Singapore. Now it will get back and work on the various opportunities. However to evaluate the progress the team is making CAN should ensure that they get to play quality team. For Dubai, a tour of Sri Lanka against similar oppositions they played this time would greatly help. If not there similar practice matches in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh would also do. If CAN is not able to arrange the same a 5 Match series against Afghanistan in UAE would perhaps a win win situation where both board can earn some revenue and good practice.

5. Finally there needs to be a special focus on WCQ in NZ. This tournament will be make of break for Nepali cricket. A good performance here will get Nepal ODI Status, more funding, a chance to play matches against test teams. play multi day matches in Intercontinental Cup. Hence this is the tournament. For the WCQ in NZ, CAN would have to get more proactive and get the team to play in similar conditions which can be NZ itself or Eng, Scot, Ire, Neth or Canada. These all are costly places but it would mean high risk but high returns.

These are some crucial times for Nepali Cricket. A good effort by the team, coach and board will be a game changer for the sport in the country or it can be a chance missed which everybody may be forced to woo for many years. Nepal does not need news like it has be fined by ICC but rather some proactive work by CAN who should wake-up from their sleep and finally contribute to the game in the country. 

Felicitation vs Real Ground Work?

Recently the biggest fan club in Nepal got together and conducted a felicitation program for the Nepal Cricketers. They were able to get some leading movie stars of Nepali cinema and got a good coverage in Media also. All the players were present along with the successful coach. The Fan Club was really happy in conducting the event.
The though that comes to my mind immediately is should this be the top priority for Nepali cricket or does it lies somewhere else. The Nepal team has been very successful in recent years winning Div 4, then ACC Trophy, Qualifying for World T20 Qualifier and Div 3(Though with hand of god in it), and many hope that they will make it to both 2014 World T20 as well as 2015 World Cup getting the ODI status. Since the time they have started winning they have been showered with the gift. This is where I see the south Asian mentality starting to kick in, not with honoring the players after all they are a talented bunch but with the issue of short term measures

Can Nepal afford to be bound by short term measures or thinking long term is the key?

At present the biggest worry for me is the youth that is on offer for Nepal. Many writer have earlier pointed out that this time Nepal U-19 came with the worst ever performance finishing 4th in the tournament losing to Afghanistan, UAE & Malaysia. At U-16 level Nepal also lost to Malaysia. It is the first time in many years that a player from U-19 team could not make it into the line up of the senior team. These are very serious issues. Nepal at junior levels was supposed to be unbeatable few years ago. Baring Afghanistan, where there is real passion for game any other youth team in Asia beating Nepal is a very serious issue. The pressure will be felt few years down the line when the Pipeline of players would finish

Nepal presently would have issue of resources and NCFC creditably has been able to garner resources from fans spread across the world. However the money collected should be spent judiciously on long term projects. I would go by a Chinese saying "Give a fish to hungry man and he eats today. Teach the hungry man how to fish and he eats for life". This summarizes the point of investing in long term.

This picture says a thousand words

The first thing that comes into my mind is various equipment that the present and future set of players would require. There are many training equipment or gym equipment that coach would have in his wishlist. Taking right people into loop such equipment would keep benefit players for many years. This is the place where Nepal team needs most support and a help here is the real help

Secondly the other area which needs big attention is the school cricket. I am sure that many students would be watching or playing cricket. A School Tournament in Kathmandu and some other bigger cities would help the upcoming players in these schools to showcase their talent. The best of the talent across the schools could then be given a chance in front of the coach. We all know that Nepal team is in big need of some good pacers. Talent identified here could have been trained for future for benefit of the team

Finally in future it would be beneficial to arrange to send many players across the world for advanced sports training. These players after being trained can pass some tips to other players and whole team gains from the experience.

I am not criticizing the Nepal Cricket Fan Club here, in my view they are the most genuine fans here who do many selfless acts for Nepali cricket. But as a genuine fan of Nepal & Associate Cricket it is my duty to criticize certain actions and guide it towards what according to me would be betterment of Cricket in the country.

Lets hope that we soon see Nepal team playing in the top cricket tournament and showing the huge potential it has in it. These certainly would be some of the most exciting times for Nepali cricket but we should not get carried away by it and keep an eye for future.

10 Things that will happen if Ireland win the 2015 World Cup

Ireland cricket team has been making quite the right noises for some years. From the victory against Pakistan in 2007 world cup, famous win over England and recently a very good series against Pakistan again. It is of no doubt that they are much above the other associates and many people want them to be elevated to test status. With more exposure they can soon join the best in the world. Now what will happen if in 2015 they win the world? Can they, I think with a few improvements they can but what will be the consequences?

1. England team will have all Irish line up for Next World Cup
The England team has a habit of poaching players specially from South Africa, and sometimes from Ireland and Zimbabwe. The England team will be hosting the 2019 World Cup so to be safe they would want to have all the Irish players in their line-up. How will they safeguard the same? Well it is quite simple they have a ICC rule for it. A player can play for a Non Test Nation (Ireland) & Next Day play for a Test Nation (England). But that player after playing for England would have to wait for 4 years to go back to Ireland. Surprised, well that is our ICC

All England would need to do ensure that every Irish player plays for them immediately and till next world cup they cannot play for Ireland!!!

Like Ed Joyce, whole Ireland team expected to wear blue's!!!!

2. Triple heart attack- BCCI, ECB & CA Chiefs
Well don't be surprised. These are the 3 people who are still in the colonial mindset and want cricket to stay that way. Their years of effort would go for a toss. So what can we expect, probably a shock of their life and a heart attack

3. World Cup will be reduced to 4 nations
There would be talk around the people in Test Nations of the useless format of the 2015 World Cup and how it somehow favored weak team like Ireland to take advantage of Rain, some one off matches and somehow win the world cup. There will be talks to giving the world cup it's right size and not the huge 2 month drag format.
A 10 team 2019 world cup would not satisfy them because the number of matches has not reduced. So a perfect representative World Cup of 4 Nations - India, Australia & England get automatic entry and 1 spot open for rest of the World. After all it is a World Cup and representation of World is required (Pun Intended)

4. India, Aus, Eng get super member status
Getting Cricket on the right path would be very much required. These 3 countries who contribute 95% of the money want their money to be safeguarded and threaten to go on their own. Under pressure the boards agree to the same and these 3 get super member status. From the next world cup (Which is 4 nation as we remember) they get an direct entry. For T20 World Cup, they get directly into the Semi's. For Test World Cup, no other country is worthy of playing it and is 3 team closed affair.
Well cricket is where it should be, back to colonial times as the Big 3 wanted.

5. David Cameroon Government Falls
With the Paddies winning core English game their is uproar in England. They watched with pain when Windies won it. Then land of Seditious Fakir(India) won it, they still accepted it. Aussies winning meant raging people. The Colonial outposts Pakistan and Sri Lanka winning had the pot almost full. But now it was the next neighbor and people would not be able to face such a site. The country is upset at England not being able to save it's culture and the huge protests force government to fall

6. North Ireland chooses to leave United Kingdom
This win gives a new hope in North Ireland. They no longer want to be associated with the Main Island since they are even better than them in Cricket. Hence it is decided and North Ireland chooses to leave UK

7. IPL finally gets Kevin O'Brien
Suddenly he is wanted by all the teams. The IPL teams line up for him and he finally makes his IPL debut. In fact KOB get's so much popular that so many products are behind him to be doing commercials for them


8. Ireland get it's first World Cup
They have not won it in Rugby Union or League, they have not done it in Football. Gaelic Football doesn't have a World Cup. So this would be a first World Cup for Ireland.


9. Irish Whiskey Ahoy, Ireland a Indian Tourist Hotspot
Suddenly there would be a big craze for Irish Whiskey in India.

Rumor would be people who drink it have sudden rise to power. There would be talks of Ireland as a magical land, and suddenly Indians would be visiting Ireland for Holidays.

Then there would be few who would realize the beauty of Ireland after all it will be all in news for all the reasons and would want to visit it

10. Wales cricket team is formed
Till now the Welsh ignored the fact that they play as part of England. Suddenly with Ireland winning the World Cup, the Welsh realize that they infact are a older cricket playing nation, they have more clubs, they have more players, better infrastructure and if Ireland can do it, they surely can. In an overnight session, Wales Parliament passes a motion to separate from England Cricket team

This article has been written in light humor and does not intent to hurt the feeling of anyone. It wishes to highlight some irony's in World Cricket. Kindly read it for fun and not get serious behind it :) Enjoy

A Separate Wales Team

Cricket has been a game given by Britain to most of the established teams. However one of the most conspicuous absence from International cricket has been a Wales Cricket Team. It is surprising because we see other members of United Kingdom like Ireland(N Ireland plays as part of Ireland) and Scotland also playing and having decent standards. It becomes even more surprising when we get to know that channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey have their own separate teams!!

When we look at other sports Wales has it's own separate team. The English Wales rivalry is well known in both Rugby Union and League. Wales also has it's separate team in other sports like Football, Hockey or Basketball.

So that brings us to a question what about Wales team? Well to start with Wales are represented in cricket. How, the England team we know that plays is actually not a England team but rather a England and Wales Team. Yes and the Board ECB is actually England and Wales Cricket Board with W surprisingly ommitted

It is not like Wales never had a team. Infact Wales team used to play against visiting teams like New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies during 20's & 30's. They infact have managed to defeat West Indies in the past. Wales also participated in the 1979 ICC trophy. They did very well in the group winning 2 matches, losing 1 and 1 match abandoned against the Sri Lanka, who narrowly piped them on Run Rate to qualify for the Semi Finals.

There always have been demand for a separate Wales team. The treatment given by ECB (With W missing) is not appreciated in Wales. Lately the demand for a Wales team are growing louder with the issue being raised in the Welsh Parliament. However can a Wales team actually be successful. There are many factors which suggest a affirmative answer.

To start with the domestic number of players in Wales is higher than both for that of Ireland and Scotland. Glamorgan the County team representing Wales has won the county championship 3 times while Ireland, Scotland, Denmark and Netherlands who have taken part in county could not even come close to such performances.

Wales also have got the infrastructure in form of the Swalec stadiums which is one of the 12 stadiums of England. Not only this a Wales team when last played had actually defeated England and Welsh Player like Simon Jones was instrumental in helping England win the Ashes.

With such good prospects I expect the Welsh team to actually do very well internationally and can easily challenge the likes of teams like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe,Ireland or Scotland. A Wales team can also open the door's for a Euro Cup in which England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands can take part.

However a separate Welsh team would not come without challenges. Firstly it puts the risk of losing funding as ECB would not be sharing rough 2 M$ of annual funding it gives to it's counties. Secondly the Swalec stadium would also lose as it will lose lucrative matches like Ashes, and England international matches (Like it is one of the 3 stadiums for Champions trophy). Thirdly it would mean Glamorgan moving out of county championship as it happened with Scotland after they left England Team. Finally Wales would have to form it's own domestic structure and like Ireland would have risk of it's players moving to England for better prospects

Glamorgan playing a County match. Can we see the county players wearing a national jersey soon?

As the move for a separate Wales team would be supported by Government some funding from Government is expected. Besides the regular ICC funding Wales would be easily available for TAPP funding. Some private funding is also expected and rivalry in the British Isles against Ireland and Scotland can definitely get some level of sponsorships

Finally to have a quality set up is a challenge faced by all the European teams like Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands is quite similar. Some teams to start with have formed a first class tournament. Ireland has already started a 3 team First Class tournament and so did Scotland with a 2 team tournament. Netherlands has been having a annual North V South matches. The key would be as it the case with Rugby, the 4 nations can come together and form a 10 Team first class tournament (3 Teams each From Wales and Ireland & 2 Teams each From Scotland and Netherlands). This can in provide a quality domestic cricket for teams and also source of income for the home boards.

In the circumstances going in Wales I expect Wales team would be formed soon. Hopefully it is formed before the 2015 World Cup so that it can be in the process to reach the 2019 World and gain ODI status for future. The team would face many challenges but I am sure would have been the case in other sports. Let's hope to see the rise of another good teams in cricket soon.