Unfamiliar home ground

KATHMANDU, Feb 15: Birendra Sainik School, Bhaktapur, is once again gearing up to host an international tournament. In the past, three age-group tournaments of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) were played in the army school ground.



Though the ground is a home ground for the Nepali team, majority of the team members are unfamiliar with it. Among the 14 players of the Nepali team, eight have not played any international match in this ground. The remaining six have some experience of playing here. The ground is as alien to the Nepali team as it is to the foreigners. [break]



Nepal will play two matches in the ground during the Pepsi World Cricket League Division-5 which will begin on February 20. Nepal will face Jersey in their first league match in the ground. The next match Nepal are set to play is against Bahrain.



Even the players who are exposed to the ground will find it difficult as the pitch has become wide now. “The pitch is good for bowlers but the batsmen should not play cross,” says Nepali opener Mehboob Alam after observing the pitch.



Besides Mehboob, Binod Das, Shakti Gauchan, Dipendra Chaudhary, Anil Kumar Mandal, Rahul Kumar BK, Sanjam Regmi and Binod Bhandari have not played any international match here. Only Mahesh Chhetri has the experience of batting in the ground. Captain Paras Khadka, Sharad Vesawkar, Basanta Regmi, Gyanendra Malla and Amrit Bhattarai were deprived of the opportunity to bat in the ground during international tournaments held in the past.



Captain Paras Khadka says, “I´ve played three or four times but my roles were insignificant.”







If the past records of international matches played in the ground are anything to go by, it is difficult to score runs here. "A country like Nepal, which has a record of playing in ´low score´ grounds, should be careful about this ground. There is no need to worry about the wickets," says curator Narayan Karki. “This is a batting wicket. Those who play well can score easily,” he says.



In 2005, the ACC U-19 match between Nepal and Brunei ended before 20 overs. Brunei were all-out for 21 runs in 15.2 overs. Nepal met the target in 3.2 overs.



ACC U-15 Elite Cup, in which Nepal along with seven other nations were disqualified due to age dispute, was also played in this ground. Nepal took all the wickets of Thailand in 22.3 overs and met the target of 60 runs in 22.3 overs losing three wickets.



Last year, Nepal had difficulty in scoring during the ACC U-17 Elite Cup. Nepal were all-out in 23.1 overs in the 40-over match for 77 runs. However, Nepal won the match by 28 runs after restricting Hong Kong to 49 runs in 31.2 overs.



Although Nepal have always won international matches played in the ground, they cannot remain at ease.

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