Garamuts squad to be named in December, Naidu says

By PATRICIA KEAMO
THE final selections for the Papua New Guinea Garamuts to next year’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies will be made by Dec 1, according to an official.
Cricket PNG general manager Tony Naidu told The National that the squad would be quarantined for six days in Port Moresby from Dec 6 before departing for the West Indies, where they would be quarantined for another six days.
“Due to the timing of the U19 World Cup, lead-up matches outside the country won’t be possible so the training we’ll do next month and in December will be crucial to their preparation,” he said on Monday.
“The World Cup has warm-up games scheduled for when they arrive.”
Naidu said the fixtures for the World Cup would likely be released by the end of next month, however, their focus was to prepare the Garamuts well over the next two months.“Due to the national examination and our priority on ensuring education is at the forefront for these young men, our programmes have been scheduled around other commitments,” he said.
“When the school year is completed, we will move into a more intense camp where we will train and play matches in the same way as we would if we were preparing the Kumul Petroleum PNG Barramundis for a tour.
“We feel good about the way they are shaping up in the informal sessions and matches against the Lewas (national women’s team).
“There is a lot of learning for the young men, including the importance of nutrition, and strength and conditioning.”
Naidu said the U19 programme was paramount for Cricket PNG as many of the Garamuts players would likely join the Barramundis (national men’s team) in the future.
“We also recognise that players from outside of this group will hopefully keep developing and we’ll challenge them for higher honours,” he said.
“Next month, in the lead-up to the Lewas’ World Cup qualifier, we will be having another Village World Cup, where we will have U19 girls and boys competing at Amini Park.
“We will be seeing our U19 squad members playing in this tournament.
“We hope to see girls who will develop for our U19 national women’s team from next year.”