The South Korean women cricket team is here for a month-long tour aimed at improving their skills.

The team consists of players who have only started playing the game two months earlier. The team hopes to learn the trade and build the base for the Asian Games, which their country in hosting in Incheon next year on September 19-October 4.

“These girls have started playing cricket only two months ago and even that was limited to couple of hours practice during weekends,” Korean team coach Nasir Khan, a Pakistani club player who settled in Korea, said. “We want the girls to train here as we do not have proper training facilities in back home, where cricket is relatively a new sport.”

Khan said his team consists of college students who registered their names to join cricket following the Incheon Cricket Club’s call to form a national team. “This is the first time they are practicing in the nets and they still have no idea about the field position,” Khan added.

“Cricket is similar to baseball and I am enjoying it playing with full cricket gears for the first time,” Ye Bin Kha, the 20-year old University student said. Another cricketer Yeon Chang Jeon was excited holding the cricket ball for the first time. “I had never held a cricket ball nor had I trained with the thigh pad and the helmet on in a hard surface. This is so much better then was we were used to” added Jeon.

“We selected these 17 girls as they are good in other sports,” said Khan. “ Cricket may be new to these girls but they are very good at swimming, golf, baseball, hockey and tennis,” said Khan.

Kim Nam Ghi, general secretary of Incheon Cricket Association and the member of the Asian Games organising committee, said the tour was part of exchange programme with the Nepal Olympic Committee.