E-Kantipur

MAR 20 -

Last week's Asian Cricket Council (ACC) U-16 Elite Cup was the inaugural edition of the tournament, which came after ACC faced difficulties in verifying the ages of players in the U-15 and U-17 tournaments. Asia’s top cricketing body thus merged both tournaments into the U-16 Cup.

However Nepal, presented with the opportunity of hosting the inaugural edition of the tournament, failed to understand the very reason the tournament was organised. As a result, the country failed to continue the excellent record they have had in various age group tournaments in the past years.

The loss in the final meant Nepal failed to create history by bagging all the age group tournaments--it has earlier won four U-19, two U-15 and one U-17 tournaments.

On a slow turning pitch Nepal’s batting unfolded. Chasing a target of 147 runs, they were packed for 78 runs only. Nepal, as usual, had bowled well to reach the finals, but they relied on individual batsmen, which was their biggest mistake. In the group matches, Man of the Series Nischal Pandey’s sole effort with the willow took Nepal to the semi-finals. In the battle for the final, Dipendra Chand defied Malaysia’s bowling with his 44-run knock to guide Nepal into the final.

Both Nischal and Dipendra departed early in the final and the rest of the batting order collapsed on a tightly-spinning pitch, and Nepal lost to a side that had prepared better. More than Nepal’s batting weakness, it was inexperience that cost us the final.

As told by Nepal’s coach Roy Luke Dias, he could not have selected a more ordinary team for a tournament than the Nepali U-16 team. This was because of the list of 60 players that had been sent for age verification, only 14 were selected to be fit by the ACC age verifying committee. The players who had done well in the U-16 tournaments earlier could not qualify, nor did the best players from the six different regions selected for the closed camp.

So, many players who actually played in the tournament had actually no match practice; they only got into the team because they were the right age.

Expecting these players to develop match temperament and give their best while under match pressure was too much of a call.

The organisers should have been serious while picking up the players from the districts. If older players compete in an age group tournament, players from the real age group will obviously fail to match the performances of the older ones.

The selectors should have been more serious with the age factor, especially after the 2007 ACC U-15 tournament which Nepal had hosted. Along with Nepal, seven teams had been suspended for fielding overage players. Singapore had lifted the cup then too, after making use of the situation. Repeating the same mistake three years later is nothing but sheer negligence on part of the selectors here.

If we are to continue the success we have maintained in age group tournaments, a proper screening of the correct age group players must be done at regional tournaments. Otherwise, the tag of so-close-yet-so-far will haunt us forever. 

Posted on: 2010-03-20 12:00

Post Your Comment

Please note that all the fields marked * are mandatory.
* Full Name
* Address
* Email Address
* Comment
* Captcha	Get another CAPTCHA code
Note:	Comments containing abusive words or slander shall not be published.