Kathmandu/Cricnepal: Cricket Association of Nepal(CAN) started the first ever fast-bowling camp for Nepalese fast bowlers at Tribhuwan University Ground, Kritipur on Friday. Chairman of CAN, Tanka Angbuhang inaugurated the training which will last for 4 days.
ACC development officer and Sri Lankan Fast bowling Legend Rumesh Joshep Ratnanayeke, who arrived in Kathmandu on friday itself, took charge of the camp. Ratnanayeke has also worked as fast bowling coach of Sri Lanks Cricket Board. Coaches Samson Jung Thapa, Manjur Alam Khan and national team captain Paras Khadka and former captain Binod Das will assist Ratnayake in the camp.
17 fast bowlers, including national team members Chandra Saud and Krishna Karki, national women’s team captain Rubina Chheti (the only participant from Women’s team) are participating in the camp. Others included in the camp are Avinash Karna, Jagdish Chand(U-16), Kalicharan Yadav(U-16), Saurav Khanal, Ram Naresh Giri, Gopal Singh, Prajesh Bahadur Singh, Jitendra Mukhiya, Sanjog Karna, Jatta Shankar Sarraf, Amar Singh Routela, Ajay Shahani, Arjun Chapagain and Yagyaman Kumal.
CAN general secetary Ashoknath Pyakurel said that they were looking for future bowlers and that is why they had included U-16 and U-19 players in the camp. He also experssed that CAN was palnning to host special camps for battin, feilding and spib bowling in future.He expressed pride in being the first associate nation of ACC to host a fast-bowling training camp.
Speaking at the inaugural function, ACC development officer Ratnayake expressed that it was the first ever fast bowling camp among the associate nations of ACC.
Ratnayake expressed that he would be teaching Nepali fast bowlers to keep natural instincts rather than looking for super speed. “We cannot be Bret Lee or Michael Holding. Lee, Holding, Rumesh and Paras are different. Their bone structures and muscular strengths are different. So, I want to keep natural instincts and to be fit and intelligent,” said Ratnayake.
He discussed about how Sri Lankan fast bowler Dilhara Fernando was once part of coaching camps that he had run, when he was a coach for Sri Lankan Cricket Board in 1998.
He also pointed out that the results of such project will come immediately so asked Nepal not to expect a miracle but wait for 10 years.
Ratynayeke has time and again expressed his immense belief in Nepali Cricket, in one of the interviews Ratnanayeke had expressed that of all the teams from ACC, Nepal(also Afghanistan and UAE) had it in them to take up the challenge to groom as a team that can compete with the top teams of cricket.
By Arun Upreti for Cricnepal. Upreti is an intern writer at Cricnepal
