Clarke invites Sandeep to train in Australia

Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has reportedly invited Nepali young leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane to train in his academy – the Michael Clarke Cricket Academy (MCCA) – in Sydney, Australia.

“Clarke has invited me to play in his Academy, I have proposed September,” the 16-year-old spinner told Kantipur daily. “It’s a big opportunity for me to play in MCCA; it would be very good experience and I will learn a lot.” Clarke was impressed with Sandeep – who was reported as Nepali Share Warne after his bowling in the U19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh – while captaining Kowloon Cantons in the HK T20 Blitz last week. Sandeep played under his captaincy. During the tournament, Sandeep developed a good rapport with World Cup winning Clarke which was evident in their conversation on Twitter. Clarke called Sandeep ‘little champion’ and said that he would see him soon.

According to Sandeep, Clarke praised his game and infused a hope that he could be playing in the Big Bash – the Australian T20 championship. “Clarke said if I continue playing well, I could be playing Big Bash and I am very excited about that,” Sandeep told Kantipur. Sandeep said that he learned a lot from the Australian legend in Hong Kong. “I could play with Clarke – I can’t explain in words the experience of sharing dressing room with Clarke,” he said. “He also taught me on bowl technique, follow through and bowling action.” MCCA runs 5-day cricket training camps every year with one-to-one coaching by Michael Clarke and his team.

This year two camps are planned first from September 26-30 and second, October 3-7. Clarke, 36, is considered one of the best batsmen of cricket having captained Australia after Ricky Ponting and leading the team to the No. 1 Test ranking and a World Cup title. A chronic back injury caused him retire early.

Source: cricket.com.np