Barras set for Namibia

The National Sports

CRICKET Papua New Guinea (CPNG) will host Namibia in the Round 4 International Cricket Council (ICC) Intercontinental Cup (ICUP) and World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) matches at the Amini Park, Port Moresby, this month.
The ICUP match and the two WCLC matches will see the Hebou PNG Barramundis take on Namibia on home soil.
It will be the first time that CPNG will be hosting an ICUP in PNG and it will be the second time that WCLC matches will be held in the country after the Barramundis defeated Kenya 2-0 in their series in May. “This will be CPNG’s first ever first-class four-day fixture in PNG,” CPNG chief executive officer Greg Campbell, said.
“Unfortunately we had to move our ICUP Round 3 home fixture against Ireland to Townsville earlier in the year after the facilities were not ready to host match at home. Now we have the all clear from the ICC after successfully hosting Kenya earlier in the year and we’re all very excited at hosting such an historic event. On the field it promises to be a tough encounter with two quality teams battling it out in the 4-Day (ICUP) and 50-over (WCLC) matches.”
The ICUP is the ICC’s premier first-class tournament, and is an integral part of the associate members’ cricket schedule.
The side that wins the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2015-17 round-robin league will play the bottom-ranked Test team on the Reliance ICC test team rankings in the ICC Test Challenge in 2018.
PNG are currently sitting in sixth place on 20 Points, one place ahead of Namibia who are also on 20 points after three rounds of the competition.
The ICC WCLC is an elite 50-over competition and pathway for participating teams to play in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 and subsequently have a chance to qualify for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
The Barramundis are currently fourth position, on eight points while Namibia is sitting in seventh position on two points.
Namibia flies into Port Moresby on Friday, before the ICUP fixture on Sunday (Oct 16) at Amini Park, Port Moresby.
Fixtures: Sun, Oct 16 – Wed, Oct 19: PNG v Namibia 10am (ICUP); Fri, Oct 21: PNG v Namibia 9.30am (WCLC), Sun, Oct 23: PNG v Namibia 9.30am (WCLC). All matches at Amini Park, Boroko, Port Moresby.