Young Nepali batsmen Naresh Budhaair and Raju Pulami are all set to attend a six-week-long training session at the oldest cricket club of the world, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Budhaair and Pulami were scheduled to fly to London on Tuesday evening.
MCC has provided scholarships to the two Nepali batsmen for the coaching course under its development program. The course will end on July 26. MCC, which was established in 1787, owns the Lord´s Cricket Ground, which is referred to as the ´Mecca of Cricket´.
MCC had written to the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) two months ago to send two young cricketers between 16-23 years for the training program. Prashant Kunwar, a Nepali cricket lover living in London, had facilitated the process. Coach Pubudu Dassanayake recommended Budhaair and Pulami for the training program. CAN had sent video footage of the two players to MCC and the latter approved their names.
“The former chief executive of MCC knew me well. He acquainted me with MCC coach Mark Alan two years ago. Coincidentally, Nepal performed well in the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers held in Ireland and qualified for the U-19 World Cup. So Alan agreed to call Nepali players to MCC,” Kunwar told Republica. “I hope this program establishes good relations between MCC and CAN and would help Nepali cricket improve in future,” he added.
Former England cricket star Ian Botham and Phil Tufnell are the products of MCC. Similarly, Australian cricketer Mark Waugh had honed his cricketing skills at MCC. After MCC expanded its development program to non-Test nations in the recent past, Afghanistan cricketers Hamid Hasan and Mohammad Nabi as well as Ireland cricketers William Porterfield and Kevin O´Brien have benefited from the program.
“We are lucky to get the chance. We´ll enjoy cricket there,” said Budhaair. “This exposure could open doors for us to make it to the national team regularly,” he added. Budhaair was a member of the national team during the ACC T20 held in the UAE in 2009. He was also a member of the Nepali team that played in the Asian Games held in Guangzhou in 2010. He was a reserve player in the squad when Nepal won the World Cricket League Division 3 in Bermuda last month, but he is yet to debut for the national squad in 50-over format.
Budhaair and Pulami were both important players of the Nepali U-19 team that finished runner-up in the ACC U-19 Elite Cup 2011 and the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers. Budhaair had scored 121 runs in the ACC tournament and 232 runs in the qualifiers. Pulami had scored only 39 runs in 4 matches in the ACC tournament and 188 runs in the qualifiers. He had scored 91 runs against Papua New Guinea during the qualifiers.
“It is a great opportunity for us. I´ll try to learn as much as possible. I want to put up a good performance in the practice matches during the training program,” said Pulami. “Meanwhile, we could get a chance to watch some Champions Trophy matches and I hope it would also give us a chance to learn top level cricket,” he added.