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Interview with Nira Thapa, captain of the Under-18 Nepali team they won the Asian Cricket Championship (ACC) in Chiang Mai last month.

Himal: How do you feel after winning the tournament?
Nira Thapa: This was a big success for the Nepali women's cricket team. For the first time we were able to make our country proud.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Nepali cricket team?
There is unity and understanding amongst the players. Our bowling and fielding is good but our batting requires more practice.

The Nepali Cricket team does well in the under 18s, but not so well when they are competing at senior level. Why?
Our players become nervous and lose their confidence. Also, there isn't an environment for making a career out of cricket, so once you get to a senior position you don't get the support and don't play as well. The players need training. Training should start at least 4-5 months before an international game.

What sort of training support does the Nepali female cricket team get?
You might as well say none. The tradition of just being happy when we win and starting training just a couple of months before the tournament still hasn't gone away. We may have won a big tournament but we only had around 15 days of training. What's more the other teams were weak in this tournament - but they won't always be weak.