I don't know how interesting my stories of everything from "dangerous coke" to having small tips inspire lowering of prices or being chased to try and give me change would be but I'll leave you with no more than that about them or all the other little fun details which mean despite what follows I'm still enjoying my time in Kathmandu.

Until I go to the cricket in Mulpani's upper ground that is.

I arrived later than planned for the Ireland Vs USA game but still in time for the first delivery.  The Irish supporters contingent had grown a lot with the scorers joined by a posse of parents and family.  The USA supporters had claimed the balcony where we had sat for the previous game and their ambassador to Nepal had another section up there while they visited for an hour leaving my favourite ICC official (that's not sarcasm) apologetic and promising the Ireland supporters they could move up "out of fairness" once the ambassador had left. Everyone was happy sitting in a section of what I'll call the stands and didn't move when the chance came.  When the Scotland and Zimbabwe teams arrived for the second game they then didn't have the space they expected with only half of this section now available while they waited for the first game to finish.

Early in the game I wandered a little, just past the first aid tent roughly behind a wide mid-off and at the end of the over I strolled behind the keeper planning to move on at the end of the over to the wide mid on area near what I now presume is the press only "stand" from which I'd previously posted a photo of the dodgy wiring powering their internet access.  Any Irish health and safety officers reading be warned you would either love Kathmandu for inspiring you not to care or absolutely hate it!

I was a long way clear of the boundary.  After a couple of balls I heard "who are you?"  It wasn't a polite inquiry and I doubt text can do justice to the tone in which it was delivered.  I was ordered back into my box to stay with the other Irish supporters.

Through the game I was keeping half an eye on how Nepal were doing against the Dutch, constantly thinking they had a chance and sure enough some explosive hitting from down the order in the last few overs meant I had a lot more than half an eye on the last over and the obvious heartbreak of the distraught bat who had so nearly been the rock around whom they had pulled it off as the last ball went for 4 to leave them 2 runs short of a superover.  What I would have paid for that last ball to go for 6 and the chance to see if Nepal's practice superover against Ireland would have helped them get over the line.

After the game the other Irish supporters took off and I reacquainted myself with the Scots supporters who took over the same position, though they moved their seats out in front to get into the sun and I spent the afternoon waiting for them to be ordered back, which to be fair they weren't.

Two days later I arrived at the ground in time for the second innings of the PNG Vs Namibia game which could see Ireland qualify for the Super 6s before they played if PNG won.  I can't be certain but I believe I was the only supporter inside the ground.

My taxi had been passed out on route by the police escorted coaches and vans bringing Ireland and Bangladesh to the ground and with nobody in the way they had taken a section of the stands each, so I slipped by them and went to the mid-on spot out of the way.  A few overs later I'd walked up to the end of the net I'd been sitting behind to get the odd unobstructed view of things from my phones camera for a minute and then I heard a voice telling me I didn't have permission to video and telling me I had to go up onto the balcony.  Again with what I'd regard as an extremely un-Nepalese rudeness based on my time here so far.

This was the coldest day in Kathmandu so far with the sun refusing to come out from behind thick gray clouds and the balcony had frankly been too chilly for my liking when I was up there on a hot sunny day.  "It's cold" I said to which I just got the reply that everywhere was cold today and angry impatience as I collected my bag to move in the direction he wanted.

I just walked straight out of the ground past the always smiling, friendly and usually saluting guards at the entrance and set off up the hill.

I could see the tables with the best views from my favourite balcony were already taken so I went back into a tiny cafe I'd visited before so knew had nice coffee and then walked back across the road to sit on a wall behind a bus-stop. Frankly to me a better view than I was being allowed anywhere in the ground.  As always there were lots of clusters of Nepalese watching dotted all around the fence surrounding the ground and as the game came to a close I'd a younger Nepali man to one side and an older one to the other, both of whose English I suspect consisted only of borrowed words like "out" but we didn't need much in the way of language to share our entertainment and some thoughts about the cricket in front of us.

I particularly loved the Namibian approach to trying to defend the 4 required to win off the last over. I think they had 8 in tight to try and stop any singles and only a fine leg I couldn't see behind the sightscreen out.  dot, single, dot and now with 3 required off 3 a shot which should at most have been a scrambled single went for 4 as the ball went through the hands of the luckless fielder who was probably already thinking about a shy at the stumps.

I went back into the ground shortly before the toss for Ireland's game and joined the even bigger contingent of Irish supporters including quite a few who had arrived that morning.  Even with the sun managing a very short appearance people added layers as the game progressed but I guess at least we weren't being forced into the balcony of the ice block building. Apart from having to move briefly to let an ambulance past nobody objected to the seats being on the grass in front of the stand.

Once Bangladesh went past 150 in the last over I was pessimistic about our chances.   Once we let the required run rate go over 10 I struggled to keep any hope alive.  Across all the games I'd seen so far in both grounds both had been indicators the game was done and so it proved again and even though a well timed Gaby onslaught got the rate back under 10 briefly it climbed back up and we lost by 9 finishing up on 144.

All the while I'd been keeping an eye on how Nepal were doing against Zimbabwe in the TU ground.  They kept them to 129 and while they never quite got far enough ahead of the chase to feel extremely confident they were only 4 down with a very well set bat at the wicket as they needed 3 off the final over.  The stream showed a wonderful shot around that time, a section of the stands which looked close to full with hundreds of Nepalese supporters who had congregated in that area.  Nepal finally got the win they deserved and resigned Zimbabwe to losing all their games.

The bad news for me is that I think thanks to our loss to Bangladesh Ireland now look virtually certain to be going back to Mulpani for 2 of their 3 super 6 games with just one in TU.  Right now I have no intention of stepping foot in that ground again and will instead join the Nepalese looking on from outside.  Or maybe I'll just stick to the TU ground where I could continue seeing 2 games a day without needing to traverse the city between games, especially when all the Mulpani games will have the horrible 9am start time.

The good news is Nepal's win means they could still qualify for the Super 6s if they can beat Scotland tomorrow in the morning game at TU before Ireland take on Namibia in the deadest of rubbers.  Should Nepal beat Scotland they won't know their fate though until after the Thailand Vs Netherlands game in the afternoon in Mulpani.  If anyone can explain the logic of NOT having the final 2 groups games take place concurrently I'm all ears!  The fact the result would carry over to the Super 6s if both qualify, at least as I presume there must be a superover for ties, probably avoids skullduggery but then even if that's the justification why not have them in the same ground for the sake of the supporters?  Well I think the rest of this piece provides the answer to that question.  I hope I manage to get there nice and early and can work out how to get into the stands to join the Nepalese supporters cheering them on as they try to keep the dream alive.

Between the above game days I went to the House of Beers and found a local brew that I enjoyed a lot and had a good laugh watching the Indian players getting grumpier as New Zealand went big in their last few overs before they ended up laughing and celebrating early as the ball flew while they chased down 200+ in the 16th over.   I would have liked to have watched Italy taking on Ireland earlier that day or today but I guess Cricket Ireland are even more intent on having nobody watch than whoever is responsible for the setup in Mulpani.

I'd initially planned to try and make this an extremely short update to keep my ranting to a minimum so I'll stop there before I divert further from my time in Nepal at this fascinating women's world cup qualifier and into what the above says about Cricket Ireland's bargaining position heading into their upcoming attempt to do a deal with anyone for their next rights cycle.

Namaste

Niall

p.s. I guess for people who don't know me well enough I should clarify the "dangerous coke" was a half drunk bottle of cola I opened in the back of a taxi. The changing conditions of the day meant pressure I've never encountered before had built up leading to a stupidly loud pop as the lid fired into the roof of the car.  Once I'd got past the mortification and apologies to the driver who could only see the funny side we had minutes of laughter trying to find the lid.  A few minutes later when I opened the bag for something else he just said in a dead-pan voice "dangerous coke" starting us both laughing again.