Barras to face Oman, Scots

Skipper Vala primed for ODI series

THE Papua New Guinea Barramundis (national men’s cricket team) are primed to face Oman and Scotland in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League Two Series.
Ahead of the one-day international (ODI) series in Scotland on Aug 14, Barramundis captain Assad Vala said PNG were no strangers to the two sides.
“We’ve played both teams before and we’ve beaten them, and they both have beaten us also,” he said.
“For this upcoming series, I think it’s about who plays the best cricket on the day.
“It’s going to be a tough task but the boys are really looking forward to it.”
The Barramundis, who regained their ODI status in April, finished third in the ICC World Cup League Division Two tournament in Namibia where they had defeated Oman by four runs.
Vala said the Barramundis had been working hard to prepare themselves for Scotland with the Curtain Brothers T20 Cricket Smash tournament, which ended on Saturday, part of their preparations.
“Over the last three months, we’ve been training as a group but we haven’t been in camp lately because we were in our teams for the tournament (T20 Smash). In our downtime, we come and do some work with our batting and head coaches,” Vala said.
“We got a few practice matches coming up and it’s going to be a big challenge for the boys with a couple players from New South Wales coming here (Port Moresby).”
Barramundis coach Joe Dawes said he was excited for the national team.
“It’s been some great cricket for the Barramundis moving forward to Scotland,” he said.
“To get these games in and get some really tough cricket has been excellent so we’re looking forward.
The World Cricket League Two provides competitive cricket for Namibia, Nepal, Oman, PNG, Scotland, United Arab Emirates and the United States with each team playing 36 ODIs over two-and-half years from August 2019 to January 2022.
Here, the teams are just two steps away from the 2023 Cricket World Cup.