Cricket buoyed by Cup exploits

By PATRICIA KEAMO
JUST like other sports in Papua New Guinea, cricket has been affected by the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic with limited domestic and international matches.
But despite that, Cricket PNG (CPNG) was focused on the United Arab Emirates Twenty-20 World Cup, which the national men’s team qualified for in 2019.
The Barramundis’ maiden World Cup appearance has put the country in the cricket spotlight, as PNG was the only Pacific Island nation that competed – apart from Australia and New Zealand.
For two years, the Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited-sponsored side were forced into isolation without playing any international cricket matches, which was a massive disruption to their preparations.
“Given that we qualified for the World Cup and then had to hibernate, it was incredibly difficult,” CPNG general manager Tony Naidu told The National.
“With the ongoing uncertainty around the World Cup, it put a lot of stress on the organisation as a whole.
“All the players and staff members had worked hard to make the dreams of so many people come true.”
CPNG had to halt most of its activities, including those of member associations, given the impact of the pandemic.
The sport’s governing body were quick to take drastic measures by introducing Covid-safe protocols for skeleton staff. Training sessions were held in small groups with mandatory mask-wearing.
International CPNG employees, including Barramundis head coach Carl Sandri, were unable to travel into PNG due to the travel restrictions, so in-country staff members took on more responsibility.
“We had to use more of online tools,” Naidu said.
“Those who agreed to work with us needed to be prepared for long stretches in quarantine and uncertainties around being able to return home.
“We didn’t know flights for our teams until the last minute.

“Sometimes it was after they were at the airport that we found out about connections.
“There were a lot of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that everyone had to do, which wasn’t fun, but it was necessary to travel.”
Eventually, the entire CPNG staff and national players got vaccinated which enabled them to get approval for their activities, especially for the Assad Vala-captained Barramundis’ World Cup preparations. Despite the Covid-19 challenges, CPNG had a successful year with the Barramundis’ World Cup participation and the introduction of local competitions, including the Village World Cup and Village Premier League.
Although the Barramundis were winless prior to and during the World Cup, they delivered some promising performances in Oman.
“Vala, Charles Amini Jr, Norman Vanua, Kabua Morea, Chad Soper and Kipling Doriga all deserve special mention for their World Cup performances,” Naidu said.
“Each one of them had star turns in our games.
“Vala always leads from the front. He scored runs, took wickets and led with a quiet authority.
“Amini looked like he was born for World Cup with his great batting in the first match, and his superman catch against Bangladesh.
“Vanua had an outstanding innings against Scotland and nearly won the game for us.
“Soper and Morea were the pick of our bowlers, consistently causing issues for the opposition batsmen.
“Doriga was fearless in our last match, showing the world what we can do when we are up against it.”
Another notable achievement for the sport was the Barramundis’ winning the team-of-the-year category at the SP Sports Awards in May.
“We were honoured to have done well in the SP Sports Awards,” Naidu said.
“The World Cup was historic.

“Competing in the final qualifier for the Women’s World Cup and the Under-19 Men’s World Cup were wonderful achievements too.”
Unfortunately, the women’s national team had to withdraw from their World Cup qualifiers earlier this month after a number of team members had tested positive for Covid-19.
“It’s unfortunate that we had to pull out,” Naidu said.
“The Lewas were looking forward to the qualifiers, given the hype from the Barramundis’ experience.
“They were given two weeks off to come to terms with the decision, but they’ll return to training to prepare for next year.
“We’re arranging some tours for them next year in Australia and Vanuatu with assistance from Sandri, so that’s something they’ll be working towards.”
Meanwhile, the U19 national team are finalising preparations before a final squad is announced next week for the 2022 World Cup in the West Indies.
“The Garamuts are going to represent us with pride and we are working hard to ensure they have every opportunity on the field to showcase their skills,” Naidu said.
“We are trying to avoid what happened to the Lewas, so we’re doing everything we can to ensure the Garamuts are in an enforced lockdown to minimise the risk of them contracting Covid-19.

“Our travel dates aren’t set, but we’ll probably travel by Jan 1 or 2.”
Last week, CPNG hosted the Village Premier League – a replica of the Indian Premier League – with the winners bagging K10,000.
Naidu said they would build on the successes of 2021 to compete better in international cricket from next year.
He said CPNG planned to build its player base as well as produce more increase umpires and coaches.
“If we can get through these tough times, we can reach more of PNG to work with more people who are passionate about cricket,” Naidu said.
“We have the ability to qualify for every men’s and women’s World Cup.
“But we’ll only do that by continuing to develop all aspects of the game, as the players have been doing so for the last decade.
“We need to improve our coaching with the help of former players.
“We need to commit to our education programmes to become top-quality coaches.
“I also want to see us play cricket in our own way while adopting lessons from others.
“We have the ability, however, we need to put in the work that the top nations do if we want to compete with them.
“The World Cup showed that our players are world class in talent, but we don’t have the ability yet to consistently compete with the top teams.
“New Zealand, Sri Lanka, India, and others all struggled in their early years, so if we keep learning, we can be a top-12 nation for both men and women, and we can do it our way.
“I am excited about what we can do on and off the field in cricket in PNG.