Cricket geared up for packed first six months

CRICKET PNG (CPNG) chief executive officer Greg Campbell has outlined a busy high performance and game development calendar for the first half of the year, with important tournaments in regards to World Cup qualification for the PNG Barramundis, PNG Under-19 Garamuts, City Pharmacy PNG Lewas as well as major programmes on the home front.

PNG Barramundis
The PNG Barramundis are currently in full training for the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup East-Asia-Pacific (EAP) final which will take place in Port Moresby from March18-25. The three-team competition will feature PNG, Vanuatu and Philippines with the winner to advance to the ICC T20 World Cup qualifier in later this year.
Then the PNG Barramundis travel to Namibia to compete in the six-team ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 2 tournament from April 20-27. The ICC WCLC Division 2 tournament with a good performance leading to qualifications for the ICC men’s Cricket World Cup in 2023. The top four teams from this tournament will join Scotland, Nepal and United Arab Emirates in the World Cup League 2 2019-21 and be granted One Day International (ODI) status.
“The ICC WCL Division 2 tournament is arguably the biggest tournament that they have played in recent years in regards to ODI status and World Cup qualification. I am very confident that we will get the result we seek under high performance manager and head coach Joe Dawes and captain Assad Vala,” Campbell said.

PNG Lewas
After nine Lewas played for the EAP team in the Australian Country Cricket Championships (ACCC) in Shepparton, Victoria (Jan 5-12), the Lewas are currently in training in preparation for the women’s T20 World Cup EAP qualifier in Vanuatu (May 4-12).
The six-team competition will also feature Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Samoa and hosts Vanuatu with an opportunity to advance to the women’s T20 and 50-over World Cup global qualifier.
Lewas players Brenda Tau and Vicky Ara’a are currently playing club cricket in the 2018/19 Katherine Raymond Shield in Queensland’s premier women’s club competition for Ipswich/Logan cricket club which is supported by the ‘Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) Port Moresby sub-branch.
“The City Pharmacy PNG Lewas have taken major steps forward both on and off the field under the guidance of coach Rarua Dikana. We showed last year that we could match it with the best developing countries, missing out on a maiden World Cup berth by a match.
“This year will be another step in the development of these players to play in a World Cup in the near future.”
PNG U19 Garamuts
The PNG U19 Garamuts will vie to qualify for their ninth U19 World Cup. They will be playing in the U19 Cricket World Cup EAP qualifier in Japan from May 31 to June 10. The winner of this tournament which will also feature Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and hosts Japan will advance to the 2020 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa.
“CPNG have invested a lot of resources to the Garamuts in recent years with the aim of qualifying for world cups and continuing to be the leading nation in the region. The process of qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa started straight after the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup ended in New Zealand last year,” Campbell said.

ICC EAP Regional Conference
For the first time since 2014, CPNG will be hosting a major ICC conference with Port Moresby selected as city to host the 2019 ICC EAP regional conference from March 22-28. All the EAP member nations which include Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji and Cook Islands will be attending this historic event.
“We are very proud to host the EAP regional conference for the first time. After successfully hosting the ICC development conference in 2014, this will be another opportunity to showcase not only our cricket programmes but also the beautiful country to our East-Asia and Pacific neighbours,” Campbell said.

Cricket Facilities Enhancement Project
CPNG will be continuing to build cricket pitches in Central, Morobe, Milne Bay, Southern Highlands, Western Highlands and Eastern Highlands as a part of the Cricket Facilities Enhancement Project which is funded by the Cricket World Cup Community Facility Fund and the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby.
“We are currently in the second stage of completing the pitches across the country. As I have said previously, this is arguably the biggest project that CPNG have been involved in which will help with the development of cricket for many years and generations to come,” Campbell said.

Game Development Programmes
The entry-level ICC Global Award Winning Bank South Pacific (BSP) School Kriket Programme will continue in 2019 with boys and girls from communities and schools around PNG getting an opportunity to learn and develop social and cricket skills. The School Kriket programme is scheduled to be launched on Feb 14.
CPNG will also continue to run school hard-ball competitions in primary and secondary schools around PNG. “These programmes are equally important as any other CPNG programmes as they will assist in identifying and developing future Barramundis and Lewas players,” Campbell said.

Dunlop Zone Championships
The Dunlop Trans-Highway Cup will take place in Lae in April during the Easter Break will feature teams from Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Madang, Southern Highlands, Jiwaka and Morobe.
The Dunlop Southern Cup will also take place in the first half of the year in Alotau with teams from Milne Bay and Oro taking part. The dates are yet to be confirmed.
“Both the Trans-Highway and Southern Cup tournaments are very important in identifying players from these outer regions of PNG which is part of the overall player pathway with the ultimate goal of representing PNG at the highest level,” Campbell said.