PNG’s best cricketers in Brisbane

Normal, Sports

FOR the past week, 11 of PNG’s best cricketers have been taking part in the International Cricket Council’s East Asia Pacific high performance squad camp in Brisbane.
These players are Jason Kila, Tony Ura, Vali Albert, Willie Gavera, Kapena Arua, Chris Kent, Jack Vare, Raymond Haoda Jr, Pipi Raho, Sese Bau and Vani Vagi Morea, along with Cricket PNG national fitness coach Peter Moide.
They have spent seven days under the expert tutelage of the ICC East Asia Pacific Development team coaches and staff from the Cricket Australia centre of excellence.
This excellent array of coaching staff included Tom Evans from the ICC, as well as former greats of Queensland Cricket Craig Mcdermott and Wade Seccombe.
The PNG boys were joined by the elite players from other East Asia Pacific cricket nations, Japan and Fiji.
Moide said the weeklong camp was of incredible value to the players and himself as a member of the Cricket PNG coaching set-up.
“Getting the opportunity to train with world class facilities and world class coaches is exceptionally important for all of our boys,” he said.
“All of our players are facing six months of cricket, whether on Brian Bell scholarship in Australia, heading to World Cricket League 3 as a Barramundi or beginning World Cup qualification as a U19 Garramut and the camp will hold them in good stead.”
The camp was held at the Centre of Excellence at the Alan Border Field where the players trained with the Sri Lankan One Day squad who were using the same facilities to prepare for their upcoming series against Australia.
This included bowling in the nets with Muttiah Muralitharan, the world record holder for most test wickets, who will be visiting PNG on Dec 1-6 for the Pacific MMI & Motor Vehicles Insurance Limited “Don’t Drink and Drive” Bash.
Barramundi’s bowler Jason Kila was thrilled by the opportunity “Murali and I both bowl off-spinners so the opportunity to watch this absolute legend in the nets was amazing. He was constantly harassing and attacking the batsman. He plays with absolute confidence,” Kila said.
The ICCEAP high performance squad camp is part of the Pepsi ICC East Asia Pacific development programme and it continues this week with a development squad having replaced the high performance players.
This development squad includes current PNG U17 players Kabua Vagi Morea and Dogoda Bau.