After its success at the Asia Cup, the Nepali under-19 cricket team is all set for the big one: the Youth World Cup. Preparations for the World Cup have already begun, with the team in a closed camp at the Kirtipur Stadium. A lot is expected of the boys after their Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19 Youth Cup victory here in Nepal in early October. Things are looking up for the future of Nepali cricket, but the question everyone is asking is: will the juniors be as competitive when playing for a foreign audience at the World Cup in New Zealand in January?

Nepal, the only non-test-playing nation from Asia to have made it to New Zealand, will be pitted against Pakistan, England and Papua New Guinea in Group \'C'. The team is going in with better preparation and significantly higher morale than it did in Sri Lanka last year, when it was the only International Cricket Council associate member to qualify. Even so, most cricket observers here feel the Nepali team's chances for a miracle are slim, to say the least.

The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has organised two phases of closed camps, the first of which began on 21 November, with 19 hopefuls doing their best. Their daily routine in the camp begins with fitness training in the morning, followed by batting and bowling practice at the nets till the noon. Assistant coach Samson Jung Thapa feels the team was allowed a longer rest than they should have been after the ACC trophy, which brought down their level of fitness. "Two weeks would have been ideal," he explains adding, "A month-long rest means we will have to work a bit harder." But he's happy with the effort the young cricketers are making to get back to their optimum training level.

In addition to the usual coaching in batting, bowling and fielding, this time around the emphasis is on practice games. "These are vital for the boys, as it gives them a chance to play in match-like situation," says Thapa. Two practice matches were held against Yeti Airways recently. At the end of the first training camp, the Nepali team will travel to Indore, India on 16 December to play five one-dayers with local clubs there.

The junior side can use all the help they get, and the presence in the training camps of Sri Lankan batting whiz Roy Dias, who coached them to victory in the ACC, gives them hope. In addition to Dias, former Sri Lankan paceman Romesh Ratnayake and Indian fitness expert Dr Vace Paes are also in Nepal helping the team. Thapa is glad of the help, which he says is not only technical, but also improves the morale of the team. "There is lots of team spirit and the boys' confidence has received a boost."

Since this is only their second time a Nepali national squad has made it to the Youth World Cup, the prospects of entering the super-league are distant. With regular test playing nations like Pakistan and England in the group, the league matches will be a hard battle for Nepal. The only other team of Nepal's calibre in this group is Papua New Guinea.

Though Papua New Guinea is the obvious choice for an easy Nepali win, Thapa feels the chances of a good fight against England aren't that bad either. "The English team is traditionally weak on spin bowling. We can exploit this to our advantage," he explains. If spinners Lakpa Sherpa and Shakti Gauchan can repeat their brilliant Asia Cup performance, Nepal can cause some interesting trouble for the English batting side. Bowling will be Nepal's trump card as usual, and not only because of the spinners. With Binod Das, Manjeet Shrestha, Sanjam Regmi and Pramod Basnet, Nepali bowling also has all-important variety. Skipper Das will spearhead the pace attack, aided by Shrestha and Basnet. The New Zealand pitch favours medium pacers like Das and the others.

The downside is that it won't be so easy for the batsmen. Although Gauchan and Kanishka Chaugain's batting was admirable at the last tournament, they might find it difficult to adjust their batting to the seaming wicket they will be playing on next month.

CAN has not announced the final list of the players yet, but chances are, the 14 players who took part in Youth Asia Cup will be retained. "We do not want to disturb a set-up that is doing well. The boys have mixed well and understand each other well," says CAN secretary Binay Raj Pandey. "There might be a couple of new faces if there are injuries or other problems," he adds.

It's not only the pitch that will be new, for the first time, Nepali players will don coloured clothes and play with white balls. CAN has designed a red, blue and white uniform for the squad, which is likely to be approved by the tournament organisers, the New Zealand Cricket Council.

Youth World Cup Cricket was started in 1997 to provide a platform for budding cricketers. England won the first edition in South Africa. Two years later, India lifted the cup in Sri Lanka. Over the years, this tournament has become the place from where talented young players make their way to senior teams. Ritender Sodhi, Yuvraj Singh, who were part of the winning Indian team in 1999 now play one-day cricket for the country.
As for Nepal, the fact that the junior team shows so much promise means that, hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, the national squad might show its mettle in the international arena.