Cricket National Players Not to Play Cricket Tournaments

The national cricket team members today appealed to the government to bring in new management at the Cricket Association of Nepal and vowed not to participate in any tournament as long as the old management remained at the crease.

“We want nothing but a new CAN management,” said skipper Paras Khadka at a press meet today. “These people are not capable of running cricket. We need a fresh team if we want to take our performance to the next level,” he added.

भिडिओ हेर्न तल क्लिक गर्नु होस् 

The national team members, who had an impressive run in the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh last month, have decided to boycott the Pepsi Standard Chartered One Day National Tournament that began in Kathmandu and Pokhara on Tuesday.

“We have come to the conclusion that the CAN officials are totally indifferent towards the development of the sport,” said Paras. “We are here, as the CAN officials left us with no other option,” he added. “We do not need a jumbo team of 30 members to run cricket. We just need four-five dedicated people who really want to develop cricket,” he said.

“They think that signing a cheque to pay hotel bills is their job. No it is not. They should come up with vision and find sponsors to materialise the plans and programmes. We are expecting cricket development from a bunch of people who are good for nothing,” he said.

Regarding the boycott of the national tournament, Paras said the event was meaningless. “National tournament is for team selection. This tournament won’t serve that purpose, as the deadline to send the 18-member squad to the ACC ends today,” he said. “CAN is simply deceiving the players,” he added. “We may not participate in the next month’s ACC Premier League as well,” added Paras.

भिडिओ हेर्न तल क्लिक गर्नु होस् 

The team also raised question about the funds provided by the Asian Cricket Council and International Cricket Council. “We are surprised where the funds provided by the ACC and ICC go as the CAN officials always say they don’t have money. We know the funds come as per the team’s performance,” said vice-captain Gyanendra Malla.

Paras even called the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority to look into the financial matters of the CAN.

Paras also revealed that the national team had a meeting with CAN officials and they had prepared a road map.

“We sat together some 12 days ago and finalised certain points for the sustainable development of the sport. But I hear they have not held a board meeting since then,” he said.

CAN officials could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts by THT, to answer the allegations made by the cricketers.

Howzzat : Players pose difficult questions

•          Tour and camp allowances and salary: Players claim they have not received allowances since they participated in the World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Dubai. Paras says, “We don’t even remember when we got our last salary.”

•          Players’ earnings used to pay ICC fine of $84,000: “How can these people not work properly and pay fine out of the money we earned?” asked vice-captain Gyanendra Malla. CAN was slapped the fine last year after they failed to submit the quarterly financial report on time

•          Treatment of Prithu Baskota: “Anyone can get injured while playing. He needs treatment. Can’t CAN manage even $15,000?” asked Paras

•          Central contract system: “CAN officials had assured us of central contract system from the $100,000 allocated by the ICC and ACC. What happened to that?”

•          Agreement with BS Sports: “The deal with BS Sports is one-sided as we cannot use the bats with individual sponsors. Nowhere in the world does this happen. Can’t a player have own sponsor?”

•          Annual budget: “We demand CAN produce yearly budget and expenditure report. We want to know where does the money go. CIAA should look into this.”

•          Mulpani grounds: “We heard there were Rs 70 million in the CAN account for the Mulpani cricket grounds before the new committee took over. Where did the money go, as the conditions there remain pathetic?”

•          Training: “At the moment we do not have a trainer and physio during training. Who will take care of the players if they get injured?”

•          International junkets: “We have repeatedly asked the CAN officials to take extra players during international tournaments so that rookies can get exposure. But they are interested in sending officials. Do we need three or four managers or team leaders?”