Barras prepare for tours

By ROBINSON LEKA
CRICKET PNG (CPNG) heads into 2020 with a full schedule of internationals tours and matches for men’s national cricket team, the Barramundis.
CPNG general manager Lee McDowell told The National yesterday that preparations for the upcoming tours for the Barras were progressing well with the team resuming training following a short break.
“They haven’t had a lot of time with their families over the last five months but they’ve all enjoyed their break and now they’re back in hard part of the training,” he said.
“The first round of the Cricket World Cup League division two starts in June in Port Moresby where Papua New Guinea will host the United Arab Emirates and Nepal.
“We could have up to 16-20 international games here (Port Moresby) this year leading into the T20 World Cup.
“We got a second round of the Cricket World Cup League two matches in late August towards September where they go to Namibia and the T20 World Cup in mid-October in Australia.
“Between Namibia and the World Cup start, were hoping to get some high profile teams to have lead-up matches with the Barras,” McDowell said.
He added that Barramundis coach Joe Dawes and his staff were hard at work preparing the team for their upcoming fixtures.
He said CPNG would also be introducing the national One-Day Cup in the country, an extended 50-overs tournament that would coincide with the T20 Smash (20 overs) tournament.
Meanwhile, McDowell said CPNG would hold a national conference for the regional managers in Port Moresby next week which would further outline the CPNG events and programmes for the year.