OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE

IPL joy for Nepal; an U19 WC to forget for Associates

by Bertus de Jong • Last updated on

Sandeep Lamichhane became the first Nepali cricketer to be picked up at the IPL auction, for 20 Lakh INR by Delhi Daredevils. © Getty

There was not much to write home about as far as the Under19 teams from the Associate nations at the World Cup are concerned, bar a few individuals spurts of brilliance. But it was an eventful week as in a first of its kind buy, Nepali cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane was picked up in the IPL auction. On the other end of the news spectrum, the controversy laden Ajman All-Stars T20 was duly scrapped, although the ICC never recognised it in the first place. There was more from the week that has gone by but the upcoming week promises a lot of movement too, with the premier T20 tournament among the associates - Hong Kong T20 Blitz starting. There's also the exciting ICE Cricket - the T20 exhibition to be played on the frozen lake - St Moritz. But the most prominent if not as popular an event, it would be the start of the World Cricket League Division 2 where six teams will make their final attempts at qualifying for next month's World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.

Here's what has gone by and what lies ahead:

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The most high-profile action involving Associates in the past couple of weeks was of course at the Under-19 World Cup, and it must be said that the Associates overall had a pretty tough tournament. Canada were the only ones to finish above a Full Member in the final standings, beating newly-promoted Ireland to 12th place, whilst Namibia, Kenya and PNG filled out the bottom of the table.

There were positives to be found in some individual performances though, notably Canada's right-arm quick Faisal Jamkhandi, who finished as the joint-leading wicket taker at the tournament, and Akash Gill, whose all-round efforts saw him take 12 wickets and notch up 254 runs, only to be rather overshadowed by the exploits of his Indian namesake. Namibia's Petrus Burger and Lohan Louwrens also impressed sufficiently to earn senior call-ups, but generally speaking, it was a disappointing showing from the non-Test nations.

In other news, the formats for both the women's and men's WT20s, to be held in Australia in 2020, were announced last week. From an Associate's perspective, improvements were marginal - the women's event remains a 10-team tournament with two qualifier spots on offer, whilst the men's version has been expanded from a nominally 14-team event to a nominally 16-team event, though as before Associate sides will have to compete in an additional qualifying round to reach the main 12-team group stage.

Meanwhile the United States' new-look squad has been struggling in Antigua, where they have been competing in the West Indies Regional Super-50 competition. Two heavy defeats - by 162 runs to the Leeward Islands and by 8 wickets to Guyana - leave them languishing at the bottom of Group B, with a solid showing in both games by newcomer Xavier Marshall the only real consolation.

Still more regrettable was the news that the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit reckons there is "strong evidence" to suggest that a private league in the UAE, the Ajman All-Stars T20, was affected by match-fixing. The investigation was apparently triggered after a video clip featuring suspiciously shambolic dismissals was posted on Reddit's cricket board last week and quickly went viral.

The ICC will not be taking direct action as the league falls outside their jurisdiction - it was not approved by the ICC, nor the Emirates cricket board, nor the local Ajman Cricket Board, and was indeed shut down before it concluded with the venue's affiliation being suspended. But the players who participated or had agreed to participate (understood to include former Pakistan captain Salman Butt) may yet face disciplinary action.

On a more positive note, Nepal's young legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane was bought by the Delhi Daredevils in the 2018 IPL auction, becoming the first Nepali and only the fifth active associate player to win an IPL contract. Spotted by DD scouts at the 2016 Hong Kong Blitz, the 17-year-old was subsequently invited for trials by the IPL franchise, before they duly snapped him up for 20 Lakh INR.

And potentially more good news for Nepal fans: an ICC delegation visited Kathmandu over the weekend to review progress on Cricket Association of Nepal's (CAN) new constitution with a view to hopefully restoring the beleaguered Board to the ICC Associate membership. Cricket in Nepal has been administered under ICC auspices since the Board was suspended in April last year on grounds of government interference.

Kumar Sangakkara will be one among many stars to be a part of this year's Hong Kong T20 Blitz. ©Getty

The schedule thankfully promises rather more onfield action this coming week, with two Associate domestic events and a crucial ICC tournament to look forward to.

The surprising venue for the newest addition to the Associate domestic calendar is a frozen lake in the Swiss Alps. St Moritz's long-established and comparatively sedate Cricket on Ice competition has been running since 1988 (David Gower famously lost his rental car at the 1990 edition when he left it parked on the lake overnight, returning in the morning to find only a rapidly re-freezing hole in the ice), but this year's edition will be taking place alongside a rather more eye-catching event - ICE Cricket, a T20 exhibition on the frozen lake St Moritz featuring a stellar roster of famous names from recent past and present.

The likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Virender Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardene, Shahid Afridi, Daniel Vettori and Jacques Kallis (to name but a few) are all slated to turn out for the Diamonds or the Royals in the two T20 matches to be played on a matting wicket laid over the frozen, snow-bound lake, in temperatures expected to hover around -8 Celsius.

Also starting this week (in hopefully more amenable weather) is Hong Kong's T20 Blitz; only in its third season but already well-established as the Associate world's premiere domestic T20 tournament. With names like Kumar Sangakkara, Jofra Archer, Darren Sammy, Ravi Bopara and Wahab Riaz appearing on roster for the six-day tournament, and the ink dry on an almost equally impressive list of broadcasting deals, the 2018 edition looks set to be the most-watched tournament ever hosted by an Associate member.

Once again a handful of overseas Associate players will be turning out alongside the full-member stars. Established T20 names like the Netherlands' Roelof van der Merwe and Ryan ten Doeschate will be seen again while Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer, who is back for City Kaitak, will hope to replicate the form that saw him finish runner-up in the run aggregates at the last edition. Young Dutch paceman Paul van Meekeren will be aiming to make an impact for defending champions Kowloon Cantons, and Singapore skipper Chetan Suryawanshi (he of the memorable international century/hat-trick combo against Malaysia) has been picked up by Galaxy Gladiators Lantau.

News of Delhi Daredevils' recent signing of Lamichhane, who first caught the eye of the world (and Michael Clarke) at the inaugural edition of the Blitz, will doubtlessly be on the minds of ambitious young Hong Kongers and their fellow Associates as they look to make a name for themselves during a rare moment in the spotlight.

But for all the glitz of the Blitz or St Moritz, the most significant Associate tournament looming next week is World Cricket League Division 2, the final tournament of the 2012-2018 WCL, and the final chance for six teams to make next month's World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe and thus, just conceivably, the 2019 World Cup. For eight days from Thursday (February 8), Namibia, Kenya, UAE, Nepal, Oman and Canada will vie for the final two berths at the ten-team event, to be held in Harare and Bulawayo from March 4-25.

The Oman, UAE and Canada squads are currently training in Pretoria, whilst Namibia are competing in the South African Regional one-day competition, currently second in their group and on a three-match winning streak. Nepal have made the best of their warm-up tour to Dubai, besting a strong UAE "A" team 2-1, whilst Kenya are having a rather worse time of things in Zimbabwe where ZIM "A" have administered a series of drubbings to clean sweep their 4-match one-day series.

For the six teams headed to Namibia this week, the tournament is not just crucial to their hopes of World Cup qualification, but also to their pursuit of ODI status and chances of winning promotion to the next World Cricket League Championship, and all their attending funding implications. So for all the big names on parade in Hong Kong and St Moritz, next week the attention of the discerning Associates aficionado will be fixed firmly on Windhoek.

**Outside the Circle will be published every Monday and focus on all that is cricket in the world of Associate member nations

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