Lewas primed

PAPUA New Guinea head into next month’s women’s one-day cricket World Cup qualifiers feeling confident they can have an impact.
With the City Pharmacy-sponsored Lewas squad set to be announced today in Port Moresby for tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from the Feb 7-21, coach Rodney Maha spoke about the prospect of the Lewas playing against some of the best cricketers in the world and having an opportunity to qualify for an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup for the first time.
“I am very happy and excited that the Lewas will be playing some of the best female cricketers in the world. This will only enhance the development of the Lewas to get better and better,” Maha said of his team who are the East Asia Pacific champion,” Maha said.
“We will be expecting spinner friendly pitches (in Sri Lanka) and probably similar wickets to what we have here in PNG. We will be making sure that we cover everything to ensure that we will be well prepared for the qualifier,” Maha said
CPNG’s Gayan Loku said the side would be joined by technical adviser Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who is a former Australian representative.
The 10-team tournament will see the bottom four sides from the ICC Women’s Championship along with Bangladesh, Ireland, Thailand, Scotland, Zimbabwe and PNG Lewas go head to head for the four remaining spots in the ICC Women’s World Cup in the United Kingdom from June 26 to July 23.
PNG, who are 13th in the ICC rankings, have been training over the past two months and recently returned from a tour to Adelaide where they played five 50-Over and T20 matches against a South Australian Cricket Association XI.
“The girls have been training hard, especially under the sun, and we’ve been working on our mental game and to compete throughout the tournament in Sri Lanka. We trying to add more structure to our batting and bowling plans with the help of Cathryn Fitzpatrick,” Maha said
The 10 sides competing in Colombo will be divided into two groups of five with the top three from each progressing to the Super Six stage, thus securing One-Day International (ODI) status until the next ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier.
The top four sides from the Super Six stage will qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 as well as for the next ICC Women’s Championship, while the top two sides will contest the final on Feb 21.
The Lewas qualified for the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier after claiming the EAP women’s trophy in Samoa last year.