136 wides bowled in a domestic U-19 women's match
In an unprecedented turn of events, a total of 136 wides were bowled in an under-19 women's one day match played between Nagaland and Manipur in Dhanbad. Nagaland eventually won the match by 117 runs.
The match was being organized by BCCI, as part of its NE-Bihar U-19 one-day competition. Bowlers from both the sides struggled to bowl their quota of overs. While the Manipur bowlers bowled a staggering 94 wides, their counterparts were slightly better, giving away 42 wides themselves. Nagaland women were all out for 215 in 38 overs, with only two batswomen reaching double digits. In reply, the Manipur women were bundled out for a paltry 98, thus losing by 117 runs.
With the incident attracting attention from all corners of the cricketing world, the North Eastern states convenor in BCCI, Mr. Naba Bhattacharjee stressed on the importance of playing more games at this level and providing state of the art coaching facilities.
"There is always a beginning. As the teams from NE states will play more matches, they will certainly get better. The idea to have a one day league between NE states is to given the exposure to competitive cricket. With state of the art coaching, one can only get better," Naba Bhattacharjee said.
This incident does not come as a big surprise as the North Eastern states have never been provided with adequate training facilities. It's high time BCCI ensures that all its affiliated member boards get the allocated revenue shares and are provided with proper coaching facilities. There is a wide gap between the quality of cricket played in the North Eastern states and the rest of the states, and continuous efforts in bridging the gap through infrastructural advancements and improvement in coaching systems is the need of the hour.
