Nepali Women Embark Historic Tour

Young Nepali women are heading for Malaysia on Sunday night to participate in the inaugural ACC Women’s Cricket Tournament.

The event that begins on Wednesday, July 11 will be the first ever international cricket event to be played by Nepali women. Seven other teams – Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, UAE, Singapore and China are also competing for the title.

“I am feeling very happy,” Nary Thapa, the captain, said. “This is historic tour and it will be more memorable if we return victorious.”

Nary said her team had worked hard to improve batting which seemed weak during the first ever national women’s cricket held last month. “We learnt a lot in the camp,” the captain, who is also a national badminton player, said adding that bowling and fielding had been ‘good’.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) and National Sports Council (NSC) bid farewell to the team on Sunday morning. “This is a proud moment for all of us,” NSC member-secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha told the gathering. “I hope you all will play important role in maintaining the respect earned by cricket and fulfill expectations of sports lovers.”

CAN’s acting president Shree Harsha Koirala wished good luck for the team and added that CAN had planned age-group and club-level matches for the women’s teams in coming years.

“We are heading there with high hopes of returning victorious,” LB Chhetri, the manager of the team said. “All teams are rookies so the event is wide-open and we believe we have a chance.”

Former national captain Chhetri was probably the proudest man standing between the women’s team. As the manager of the team, Chhetri will be a part of the history that he dreamt a few years ago.

Chhetri was the man behind development of women’s cricket in Nepal. Four years ago, he held the first ever women’s cricket tournament in Nepalgunj for schools. “We trained girls at various schools and held the event,” he remembered.

After three annual events, Chhetri team at the Region No 5 Nepalgunj earned the prestigious ICC Global Award for the Best Initiative in Women’s Cricket this year. And, now he is leading the team that consists seven cricketers he had been mentoring for three years.

Being a part of history naturally comes to Chhetri. His first tour to Malaysia was as the vice-captain of the national cricket team in its very first international event in 1996 and after 11 years, he is again heading there as the team manager of the first ever women’s national team.

“I feel proud,” Chhetri, the man in charge of cricket development in far western Nepal, said. He is also the first man to captain the national side in any international match played on home-soil – the 1998 ACC Trophy in Kathmandu.

Team & Schedule

Nepal’s National Women Cricket Team: Nary Thapa (captain), Nitu Thapa (vice-captain), Mamata Thapa, Manisha Rawal, Binu Buda Magar, Keshari Chaudhary, Trishna Singh, Sita Rana, Nira Rajopadhyay, Saraswoti Lamgade, Susmita Chaudhary, Madhu Thapa, Maya Rawat and Ritu Kanaujiya.

Team officials: Lekh Bahadur Chhetri (manager), Jung Bahadur Thapa/Jamil Ansari (coaches) and Pabitra Raut (scorer/team assistant).

Nepal is opening its campaign against Thailand on July 12 before taking on hosts Malaysia on July 14 and Hong Kong on July 15. The semifinals are scheduled for July 17 and the final for July 18.

Have your say on Nepali Women Team here.

Photo by Nepal Photo Agency