All the games of the Women's T20WC qualifiers in Nepal are being played on two pitches, the upper ground in Mulpani and the stadium on the grounds of Tribhuvan University (TU).  In the first part I typed too much, mostly about Mulpani as I'd yet to visit TU but that was my next stop for the second Irish warm up game, this time against Zimbabwe.

With another 9am start I ended up feeling trolled as I wandered around what I could of the TU ground only to spot the signs for coffee tucked away under the stand I sat in as the players warmed up.  On my own with thousands of seats to pick from just in this section alone some of the Irish players came down to take some catches on the rope in front of me, including skipper Gaby who was quick to say hello again and get in a little chat between catches including recommending the trip to Chandragiri Hills they'd taken the day before.

Seeing a few people in a smaller stand section that's likely meant to be the premium seats I wandered over there to join them and on my way ran into the same ICC official as the first day.  While chatting to them they were greated by a familiar voice behind me.  When I turned around I could see the surprise on the face of our umpiring representative at the tournament Jonathan Kennedy and with a handshake and hello's done he told me he'd thought "no point saying hello to whoever they are talkng to as I won't know them".

One of the highlights of the day for me was a pretty straight 6 by Orla that she deposited over the fence and into a construction chasm between where I had been sitting and the sightscreen.  It felt like it took minutes for JK to appear from his perch as 3rd umpire with the spare balls and he'd only made it half way out to the middle when a local working at the venue threw the ball back out onto the pitch having somehow recovered it, sending JK back to his box.

Orla was in flying form again retiring after another 50 with Amy having already retired quite early after 17 off 19 and with Laura having scored 30 it didn't leave too many for anyone else to get to chase down the below par 125 posted by Zimbabwe with Christina and Sarah seeing us home with an over and 4 wickets to spare.

I wandered off out of the ground in search of coffee, probably making the wrong choice to head for the nearest option once I'd scaled the hill, before making it back to the ground via a scenic route through a park for the second game where the USA chased down Nepal's closer to par 136 with 5 balls and 6 wickets to spare.  Throughout that game there was the same familiar loud Nepali supporter from the first day sitting underneath me with a decent clump of other Nepali supporters, while I was on the second less shaded tier above with a handful of Nepali spectators and an England&Wales man who enjoyed declaring he was a spy just there to scope out the competition.

By the end of that game I didn't hang around very long as I was keen to go and get something better to eat and drink than the few bits I'd packed in my bag for the day and I only mention that as an apology to JK because with my wits about me I'd have waited around to catch him for a bit more of a chat when he wasn't on duty.

The next day's cricket was the start of the actual tournament and saw me going back to Mulpani with Ireland playing on the upper pitch at the much more sociable time of 1pm, but I still made it there in time for the start of the far too early 9am start featuring Bangladesh and the USA in the first women's T20I on the ground.

As I mentioned before this ground currently feels closer to an Irish ground with few buildings as of yet and no big stands, though like TU and unlike anywhere in Ireland there is a large grass net area which the Irish women took advantage of towards the closing stages of the first game. I even managed to sneak in a lap of the pitch this time, though sneak is again the word for it as I charted my course between the players and the rope.

It felt like the 158 Bangladesh posted was probably enough and between innings I wandered up the hill in search of coffee as again there was nothing for spectators in the ground.  I went up instead of returning to the coffee shop I'd found previously as I'd noticed what looked like a few different choices of venues with top floor or rooftop views of the ground.  I ended up atop the tallest in the seat with the best view of the pitch, where just one corner was cut off, and it was lovely, as were the Momos I had for brunch and the coffee so I spent most of the innings up there as the USA didn't look like they would get close until a 13 ball 33 from their number 7 opened up the slightest window but she fell in the 18th over along with 2 more wickets as I was heading back down with a take away coffee and they ended up falling 21 short of a superover.

After Ireland had won the toss and decided to bat I thought I should wander back over to the pavillion area and giant tent with seats beside it where most people were to see if I could spot any new arrivals from Ireland.  Sure enough up on the pavillion balcony I spotted a couple but not some parents like I expected but former permanent Ireland Women's scorer Judy Cohen, so I joined them as we watched yet another OP show, though this time she did get out after scoring 50 instead of retiring.  146 didn't feel like a big score, perhaps par and while we didn't run through them it certainly helped when the only run off Orla's first 2 overs was a wide and then she took a couple of catches in front of us just to all-round out the performance and leave no shock who PotM was.  Gaby's 25 ball 42 was also very good but she might need to take up bowling and station herself in the slips to beat Orla to the award when she's in form like this.

At the end of what felt like another long day I decided to go and try a restaurant highly rated for the pizzas from their open kitchen and ended up with the nicest pizza I've had outside of Italy and better than many I had in Italy.  They even have pizza making lessons so I'm thinking I might do that for a bit of fun on one of the days between cricket.  Expensive for Nepal the bill was about €12 for the pizza and a couple of nice double-shot cappuccinos and despite the lack of real food throughout the day I was too stuffed by the end of the pizza to up the bill with a desert, due to the size of the pizza and not due to it being turned into a dense but more filling sludge with too many toppings.

After another day off and some more lovely food I went to bed before Ireland and Nepal's rest day thinking I'd head to TU for Namibia Vs USA followed by the Scots against the Dutch.  I dragged myself out of bed just about early enough and decided to see if I could find the umpires for the day thinking I might just go where JK was and sure enough he was going to be in Mulpani instead where the first game was Thailand Vs Zimbabwe which was very tempting though I preferred the idea of the Euroclash to the Namibia Vs USA game which would be second in Mulpani. The coffee wasn't getting me going that morning though so I ended up procrastinating and drinking more coffee trying to get moving until I finally admitted defeat and decided I'd just walk the bit over 5km to TU for the Euroclash and skip the first games.

Technically I think I made it into Kathmandu's Durbar Square without paying as I cut across a corner.  On top of knowing a lot had to be rebuilt after the 2015 earthquake it was crowded with people and pigeons to the point I think that was probably enough for me to tick it off the list of potential tourist traps to visit.

And so it was I stopped walking a bit over half way to pick up a nice coffee and watch instead of just listen to the Thailand Vs Zimbabwe game for the last couple of overs. As the last ball was bowled I thought I would be going back into the coffee shop to sit in and order who knows what while I watched a superover, but the Thai bowler failed to do a Stuart Broad to give away the win and hit the stumps to secure the 1 run win before I resumed my walk.

Showing how quick you adjust I was shocked at the price of that coffee.  I handed over 500 expecting anything from 150-300 change planning to just take the 100s and leave the rest as having anything other than the bigger notes is proving a challenge and if nothing else I want to be able to be stingy with any cheeky taxi driver who aims too high and not give them the chance to claim no change.  There were no 100s in my change and I was so surprised I just took the small notes.  I think that coffee was €2.60, very nice and would have felt like a steal in Dublin.

To be fair to the taxi drivers, my first day back from TU I didn't even agree a price and when I handed over 1000, as we reached a police road block that would leave me a short walk the last bit, he was diving for change before I waved him off.  In contrast the guys in the center asked for 1000 initially for the trip there and only got 800 out of me because I'd thought they had to take a much longer route than they did so I know he thought he had done great getting 800 out of me.  Also my second taxi back from Mulpani only asked for 500 when the right price was a little over 600 so he also just got 1000 with my thanks.

Maybe 5 minutes before that stop for coffee I'd decided not to take the road my openstreetmaps app was suggesting along the river as it looked too far off the beaten track even for me and there was a decent road that wouldn't add more than a minute or two to the walk.  Maybe 5 minutes after the coffee, having made my way across the biggest road and junctions I've encountered yet, I followed it's advice and ended up going up and down on a road I could only generously describe as under construction and was shocked that any motorbikes worked their way past me on it let alone the dozen or so who did.  I was sweating by the end of it as the sun was well out by that point and I didn't take a layer off quick enough but it emerged about a minute away from the entrance to the ground and was more than interesting enough for me to be happier I took it rather than just sticking to the bigger roads.

At the gate into the ground the security asked if I was Scottish to which I replied Irish, I was wearing an old Scotland jersey I'd received from them years ago for scoring a youth series, and then a guard pretty much escorted me to the somewhat shaded section of stands where I'd spent most of my first game there.  I didn't go exactly where they were directing me but they didn't mind, they weren't forcing me to go somewhere though I ended the day wondering about the way they had segregated the ground.  I probably ended up moving to exactly where they suggested as I joined the Scottish supporters who were divided by about a foot from the Dutch in the stand beside them.

The dozen or so Scots were all players family and I suspect the same for the Dutch.  Both had bunting up and flags out with the Scots even giving a rendition of Flower of Scotland as the players took to the field.  It was a great game, ebbing and flowing both ways.  My instincts early were that 150 was probably par and in the end the Dutch 157 proved just a few too many as needing 11 to win off the last over the Dutch kept the Scots to just 3 to leave them on 150.

Sitting beside me through most of the chase was the knowledgable father of a Scots player who couldn't shake his pessimism at the fact that some drops had let the Dutch get too many and the lack of boundary hitting/hitters.  He pretty much declared it over with a few overs to go and then the next ball flew for 6, it's the hope the kills you!   In the end I think I might look to the bowling discipline as the difference with the Scots bowling 14 wides to 4 from the Dutch but really it was just the expected close game and a great final over after taking just enough wickets that was the difference.  I joked before the last over that I should quickly ask all the Dutch and all the Scots supporters if they'd take a superover at that stage.

So it ended up with the happy Dutch cheering as their team came over to them and some disappointed Scots also willing to clap the Dutch in appreciation.

Tomorrow as I type this Ireland are back to Mulpani and back to the obnoxious 9am start time as they play the USA.  The USAs win over Namibia along wiith getting closer to Bangladesh than PNG means this result could count in the Super 6s so it's really not a game where Ireland would want to slip up.  Not fatal if they do but it would ramp up the pressure ogoing forward.

Afterwards it could be a hum-dinger as the Scots take on Zimbabwe.  I'm too lazy to work out permuatations but I imagine Zimbabwe must win to keep any chance of making the Super 6s alive while Scotland will feel the same way even if things aren't as dire for them.

Personally I'll just be happy to get back to Mulpani again for no other reason than the fact I can wander up the hill to watch the cricket and get some nice food and drink. I'm sure TU is wonderful for spectators at an NPL or men's international game but the lack of any catering to spectators when I've been there so far coupled with it's location on the University grounds with nothing around it isn't making it very attractive to me despite all it's great qualities.

I am still looking forward to the last day of the groups stages in TU though when Ireland will take on Namibia in the late game but coffee or not I'll hopefully be there on time for the 9am start when Nepal take on Scotland, as even yesterday without Nepal in action there must have been hundreds of Nepali spectators dotted around the main stands in TU with my only frustration being there didn't appear to be any way for me to escape the section I was in to go join them and I don't even know how they got in there in the first place!

Nepal lost their opening game to Thailand but especially after having seen TSB's vlog about that day with the Nepali supporters I'm really hoping for some surprise Nepal wins in the days to come so they'll be going into that game with their world cup dream still alive and bringing out ever bigger crowds dreaming with them.

Namaste

Niall