Glamorgan all-rounder, Dan Douthwaite was not alone among the foreign players in being unsure what to expect when he headed to the Himalayas to take part in the inaugural Nepal Premier League NPL late last year.
Taking up a playing contract in the mountainous nation of 30 million was always going to be a novel challenge for the Englishman, not least because the Twenty20 league was staged at a ground some 1,350 metres above sea level.
I thought I was going to be constantly out of breath or struggling, but it wasnt actually as bad as I thought it was going to be, the 28-year-old recalled of his time playing for the Kathmandu Gurkhas.
I think I noticed it more so with sixes. When they got the ball, it absolutely went miles. A lot of balls kept going and going and going.
When you think youve hit one straight up and its a 70-metre six.
