Cricket tournaments set to resume following end of lockdown

By ROBINSON LEKA
CRICKET Papua New Guinea (CPNG) will resume the Isuzu National Cup and its T20 Smash tournaments following the end of the 14-day lockdown in Port Moresby yesterday.
CPNG general manager Lee McDowell told The National yesterday that the National Cup would resume tomorrow along with the T20 Smash tournaments.
“The plan is to run the remaining rounds of the National Cup and the Curtain Bros T20 Smash tournaments (men and women) in a condensed period from Friday to Sept 13,” he said. “We need to use this window of opportunity to maximum benefit in case it closes quicker than expected.
“The National Cup had to be postponed after round one due to the Covid-19 pandemic but we have approval to resume within updated parameters issued by the PNG Sports Foundation. The players are continuing with their training although methods will be aligned with safety precautions.”
Meanwhile, McDowell said the shortened time-frame would allow national men’s team coach Joe Dawes to send players to compete in Australian competitions.
“Dawes and his high performance team are trying to secure our players’ spots in the Australian competitions,” he said.
“With the absence of international cricket for the year, this is one way we can keep them playing competitive cricket prior to the resumption of international cricket.”