Lewas coach impressed

FORMER Australian women’s test fast bowler and current Papua New Guinea coach Cathryn Fitzpatrick opened up to Cricket PNG after the recent success of the Lewas at the ICC Women’s World T20 East Asia Pacific (EAP) Qualifier in Sano, Japan.

Cricket PNG: Congratulations on claiming the 2017 ICC Women’s WT20 EAP Qualifier in Japan. It wasn’t a walk in the park though.
Fitzpatrick: The competition was of a high standard with all teams adapting and improving as the tournament progressed. Our early loss to Samoa meant that we needed to ensure our net run rate remained as good as or better than theirs to make sure our only focus leading into the last game was to win and not think about a margin.

Cricket PNG: After the tough 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Sri Lanka earlier this year, it must be pleasing to see the Lewas bounce back in style.
Fitzpatrick: It was pleasing to see the improvements across all three disciplines. Our bowling group were able to get early breakthroughs and our fielding was energetic to help back this up. Our batting showed more intent and we were able to build partnerships that helped with our run rate, so overall it was great to see we learned from our games in Sri Lanka and we were able to play a more exciting brand of cricket.

Cricket PNG: Who were the stand-out PNG Lewas players in Japan?
Fitzpatrick: We had quite a few players step up across the games. Both Sibona (Jimmy) and Ravini (Oa) finished in the top five bowling performances and Tanya (Ruma), Sibona (Jimmy) and Pauke (Siaka) were three of the top four run getters.
Brenda did a good job behind the stumps and also made two very important contributions with the bat. So I would say our senior players were in good form, with Sibona being the best all round contributor for me.
Cricket PNG: You have been working with the Lewas over the last 12 months or so. What has been the biggest improvement in the girls?
Fitzpatrick: I think the main improvement has been a better understanding of the game tactically so that we can apply sustained pressure on the opposition. We have work hard to have a stronger presence in the field and think this is also helping to better our understanding of the game. I have also seen more intent with the bat and our running between the wickets. These are things that we are doing better, but we still need to keep pushing the group to raise our standards even further.

Cricket PNG: Moving onto the ICC Global T20 Qualifiers, what are the key areas that you would like the girls to improve on?
Fitzpatrick: I think we can make big gains in our fitness and this will also help with sharpening our concentration during matches. It will also help with our recovery from games and allow us to sustain our best efforts for the duration of matches. Individually each player will have a development plan that highlights the areas that need to be improved in order to keep expanding their games. The final challenge for our next training block and beyond is to keep developing and implementing a culture amongst the group that supports all players and displays discipline and pride in all that we do.

PNG defeated Samoa in the final round of the ICC Women’s WT20 EAP Qualifier last Thursday to finish equal top with Samoa on 10 points, but a superior net-run rate by the Lewas meant that they finished ahead of Samoa and secured the one qualifying spot available.
This meant that the Lewas advanced to the 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier which will be held in late 2017 or early 2018. – CPNG