Eminent South African Cricketer Jonty Rhodes, and internationally renowned cricket coach Ryan Maron are set to implement a high intensity cricket training for young Nepali cricketers in Kathmandu.
The duo was unveiled on 12 November in the capital city of this emerging cricketing nation, at a press meet organised by Sports ED (a private sports consulting firm) and Nepal Cricket School (an established cricket academy).
They were invited to Nepal as part of ‘Rise of the Cricketing Stars’ cricket development programme, which the organisers believe could potentially lay the foundation for sustainable grassroots cricket in Nepal. Nepal Cricket School has been implementing regular training through established local coaches, including exchange tournaments for its youngsters, whereas Sports ED has begun advocating for equal importance to sports and education in young students.
Speaking at the programme, Jonty Rhodes expressed his delight at the opportunity to train young Nepali cricketers, noting that Nepal had a strong u19 team that has been successful in various tournaments. He however hoped that the pool of talented players could further improve with more game time, in the absence of the structures required to develop cricket in Nepal. He highlighted the importance of also training the local and national coaches so as to achieve an exponential impact on the development of cricketing techniques in the small nation.
Coach Maron shared briefly his experiences working with national teams of Afghanistan and the West Indies, founded the Cricket School of Excellence powered by Ryan Maron in 1999 and works with local clubs and school teams in South Africa, expressing the belief that this could be a stepping stone for a longer-term development programme.
The duo arrived in Nepal on 10 November, and will implement the trainings from 13 to 23 November, and leave the country on 25 November. The programme will introduce a number of innovative coaching and playing techniques through one-on-one and group sessions, as well as provide young emerging cricketers with sessions on fitness, nutrition, sports medicine and injury management, performance tracking and grading, and winning mentality. The training will be organised at the Tribhuwan University cricket ground, the only cricket facility in the capital.
The press meet was attended by a total of 47 journalists representing all the leading TV, print and online media of the country.
