KATHMANDU, May 16: Closed camp training of the Nepali U-19 cricket team could not kick off on Tuesday as scheduled after players from outside the capital could not arrive in Kathmandu due to strike in different parts of the country.
Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) had scheduled the closed camp for the U-19 team from Tuesday at TU ground as the Nepali youth team is participating in the U-19 Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from June 23 to July 1.
Kiran Rana said CAN had no options but to postpone the camp due to unstable political situation. “We tried to manage rooms for the cricketers in a guest house in Kirtipur but rooms are unavailable now. However, we are talking with the TU officials to provide rooms for the players at TU hostel. The camp will start after the rooms are fixed,” said Rana.
“We had planned to keep the players at Kirtipur so that they will not be affected by the bandas. We will probably start camp from Thursday,” he added.
Coach Pubudu Dassanayake, who returned to Nepal from Canada on Monday, discussed the issues with CAN officials on Tuesday and wants to start the training from Wednesday.
“We are a bit late for the training due to bandas but we will start the training with the players´ available in the capital,” said Dassanayake.
Only nine players out of the 24 selected for the closed camp, are in the capital. CAN had called up all the 14 members of Nepali U-19 team that helped the country qualify for the ICC U-19 World Cup and 10 other players selected on the basis of performances in the recently concluded Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament.
"I´ll test all the players during the closed camp," said the coach. “The U-19 team is participating in two different tournaments in two very different conditions.
Malaysian pitches support spinners while Australian pitches are bouncy and fast. We´ll try to create balanced teams on both the occassions. But I prefer to take an extra pace bowler for the Asia Cup,” he added.
After the U-19 Asia Cup, Nepali U-19 team will compete in the ICC U-19 World Cup in August in Australia.