Lewas gear up for qualifers

THE Lewas have a busy schedule ahead of them as they prepare for International Cricket Council Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Sri Lanka, after successfully topping the East-Asia Pacific tournament earlier this year in Samoa.
For the past two months the Pacific MMI-sponsored Lewas have been training at Amini Park under the head coach Rodney Maha.
Cricket PNG high performance manager Rarua Dikana told The National that it was vital that the women had sufficient preparation for the Sri Lanka tour.
“There’ll be eight teams playing in the qualifiers, with the top four teams qualifying for the World Cup in England next year,” Dikana said.
“The girls are pretty focused. There’s a lot a stake and they have to be well prepared in every area.”
The Lewas have been fortunate to have help from former Australian women’s cricketer Cathryn Fitzpatrick who is attached with Cricket Australia as a youth coach.
Fitzpatrick’s technical support and advice on the finer points of the game have been invaluable.
“Cathryn came up for a week and put our girls through a very intensive training camp. She was impressed with the progress they had made since Samoa,” Dikana said
The Lewas travel to Adelaide, South Australia, on Oct 18 to play to a series of matches against South Australian Cricket Association teams including the U18 state team and development squads.