CPNG to launch Village Premier League with K15,000 on offer

FOLLOWING the success of the Village World Cup series, there was a great deal of interest from teams to have a high-level competition that followed a similar format.
To meet this demand, Cricket Papua New Guinea (CPNG) is launching the Village Premier League that will be played at Amini Park in Port Moresby from Nov 20-21.
The league will be run as a high-level franchise/club competition, using the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the model for teams to adopt.
First prize will be K10,000, the richest-ever prize offered for a CPNG event.
The total prize pool will be K15,000, with K3,000 as the second prize, and the third and fourth-placed finishers each receiving K1,000.
Each team will use one of the names of the IPL teams: Capitals, Royal Challengers, Indians, Royals, Super Kings, Knight Riders, Kings or Sunrisers.
The first team to be confirmed for this premier tournament are Porebada Royal Challengers.
Cricket advocate and Porebada administrator Igo Dairi said “growing Porebada cricket and giving an opportunity to young talents to have exposure at the highest level possible and pursue a career” was why they had fielded a team.
“Teams may field Kumul Petroleum PNG Barramundis and national Under-19 players so long as they are listed in their official squad,” CPNG said in a statement yesterday.
“We expect to see a high quality of players across the limited number of teams that will be fighting it out to win the big prize on offer.
“It is going to be thrilling to see our World Cup heroes compete in this format with and against each other.” The tournament will be held strictly in accordance with the nationwide Coronavirus measures, including that at no time will there be 20 or more people on the field.
“All participants must have been vaccinated, and no spectators will be present,” CPNG said.
“All games will be scored and streamed live online.
“Interest for this exciting new tournament has been high so far.”