Cricket winning on and off the field

 THE Barramundis’ two victories over Hong Kong in Townsville over the weekend showed that Papua New Guinea can be a force in regional and world sport. 

While other sports struggle for success, cricket has quietly but surely gone about its work and the fruits of that labour over the years were reaped on the weekend.

The country’s ranking has improved over the past five years. From being outside the top 20, the Barramundis are now ranked 16 and competitive with all countries grouped in the second tier of cricket.

The Barramundis successfully chased down totals on Saturday (202) and Sunday (261), beating the 15th ranked country in world. 

Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the two matches was that the team learned how to win, which is what recently appointed coach, Dipak Patel has been emphasising over the last month of cricket where the side spent a month on the road in Australia playing in the South Australia Cricket Association Premier League competition. 

Make no mistake this Papua New Guinea team is a battle-hardened side that has been together for the past three years and that kind of continuity is what has turned players such as Assad Vala, Tony Ura, Mahuru Dai, Chris Amini and Willie Gavera into the solid professionals that they are now.

This year three new stars were unearthed. Batsman Lega Siaka stamped his class over the weekend with a sparkling 109 in the second game on Sunday, while all-rounder Charles Amini Junior saved his country in the first match on Saturday with an unbeaten 61 and to cap it off medium pacer Norman Vanua picked up a four-for 60 in the second game.

These three are products of Cricket PNG’s junior development programme and have impressed in 2014.

Siaka, who was recently contracted to the Melbourne Renegades in Australia’s Big Bash T20 competition, is on the way to being the country’s leading batsman. 

Centuries in February’s One Day World Cup qualifiers in New Zealand placed high expectations on Siaka and the diminutive Hanuabada man has met the challenge by being the first Papua New Guinean to score a century in an International Cricket Council-sanctioned one-day match.

Amini Jr is one of the Barramundis’ best all-rounders. He may have some competition from veteran Dai and Jason Kila but the 21-year-old from Rigo, Central, is poised for bigger and better performances in the future.

Vanua is the third member of this triumvirate and although he may not be the centre of attention as the other two, there is no doubt the improving seamer is another young man on the way to forging a long career for his country.

Cricket may not be the most popular sport in PNG or widely played but the stars that have been produced and the way the sport is managed says it will continue to hit way above its weight for years to come.

Other codes would do well to follow what cricket has done to build their code. Unlike other sports that have the luxury of picking from a wide range of competitions and provinces, cricket is restricted to identifying and nurturing its talent predominantly from one local town competition and two provinces – the National Capital District and Central.

That is an amazing fact and speaks of the potential waiting to be discovered elsewhere in the country.

Cricket PNG is mindful of this fact with the establishment of cricket offices in Lae, Mt Hagen and Kimbe.

Women’s cricket has maintained its top status in the South East Asia Pacific region. The Lewas went to Japan earlier in the year to reclaim their EAP title which the host country had won the previous year.

A junior development and participation programme has seen as many as 150,000 students and children registered in Cricket PNG’s school programme annually. 

In terms of facilities and infrastructure, Cricket PNG, with the help of the ICC and a group of dedicated local sponsors, have developed facilities at Port Moresby’s two main grounds Amini Park and Colts Oval to give players the best chance to hone their talents.

There is no denying the sport is one of the few that is leading as a developer of local talent and juniors.

There is a lot to learn from this example.